NEW YORK — President-elect Donald Trump says he’ll nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to steer the Department of Health and Human Services, placing on the head of an enormous company a person whose views They have denounced a harmful public well being system that oversees all the things from drug, vaccine and meals security to medical analysis and the social security web packages Medicare and Medicaid.
“For too lengthy, Americans have been crushed by the meals industrial advanced and pharmaceutical corporations which have engaged in deception, misinformation and disinformation in terms of public well being,” Trump mentioned Thursday in a publish on his Truth web site Social asserting the appointment. Kennedy, he mentioned, would “finish the persistent illness epidemic” and “make America nice and wholesome once more!”
Kennedy is among the world’s most outstanding anti-vaccine activists and has lengthy supported the debunked concept that vaccines trigger autism and different well being issues.
Coming from one of many nation’s most storied political households, Kennedy is the son of the late Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy. He first challenged President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination final 12 months. He then ran as an unbiased earlier than abandoning his candidacy after hanging a deal to offer Trump his assist with the promise of getting a job overseeing well being coverage in a second Trump administration.
He and the president-elect have since turn out to be good buddies. The two campaigned extensively collectively through the remaining stretch of the race, and Trump had made it clear that he meant to offer Kennedy a serious function in overseeing public well being as a part of a marketing campaign to “Make America Healthy Again.”
“I’m going to let him run wild on well being,” Trump mentioned at a rally final month.
During his victory speech in Palm Beach, Florida, final week, Trump exclaimed, “Go have enjoyable, Bobby!”
However, it was unclear what job he could be supplied. In an October interview with CNN, Trump transition co-chair Howard Lutnick assured that there was no means Kennedy would get the job he acquired.
The appointment has sparked alarm from public well being specialists.
“Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is nowhere close to certified for the function and must be nowhere close to the scientific businesses that safeguard our vitamin, meals safety and well being,” mentioned Dr. Peter Lurie, the physique’s president public well being surveillance. Center for Science within the Public Interest group.
Dr. Mandy Cohen, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, advised the Associated Press: “I do not need to return and see youngsters or adults endure or lose their lives to remind us that vaccines work, and so I’m .”
“Any misinformation coming from locations of affect and energy is troubling,” he mentioned.
During the marketing campaign, Kennedy advised NewsNation that Trump had requested him to “retool” businesses together with the CDC, the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration.
Kennedy opposed processed meals and using herbicides such because the weedkiller Roundup. He has lengthy criticized the massive industrial farms and animal feeding operations that dominate the business.
But he’s maybe greatest identified for his criticism of childhood vaccines.
Again and once more, Kennedy made his opposition to vaccines clear. In July, he mentioned in a podcast interview that “there is no such thing as a secure and efficient vaccine” and advised FOX News that he nonetheless believes within the long-debunked notion that vaccines may cause autism.
In a 2021 podcast he urged folks to “resist” CDC tips advising when youngsters ought to obtain routine vaccinations.
“I see somebody on a path carrying a small little one and I inform them, ‘You higher not get him vaccinated,’” Kennedy mentioned.
Repeated scientific research within the United States and overseas have discovered no hyperlink between vaccines and autism. Over a long time, vaccines have confirmed secure and efficient in laboratory exams and real-world use in tons of of thousands and thousands of individuals. The World Health Organization credit childhood vaccines with stopping as much as 5 million deaths a 12 months
Trump throughout his first time period launched Operation Warp Speed, an effort to hurry up the manufacturing and distribution of a vaccine to fight COVID-19. The ensuing vaccines have been extensively credited, together with by Trump himself, with saving many lives.
Trump, in his announcement, mentioned that, beneath Kennedy, HHS “will play an essential function in serving to be sure that everybody is protected against dangerous chemical substances, pollution, pesticides, prescription drugs and meals components which have contributed to the overwhelming well being disaster on this nation.” But HHS has no jurisdiction over many of those points, which fall beneath the purview of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture.
Kennedy is a lawyer who has constructed a loyal following of people that admire his lawsuits in opposition to main pharmaceutical and pesticide corporations for many years. He pushed for stricter rules on substances in meals.
With Trump’s marketing campaign, he has labored to shore up assist particularly amongst younger moms, along with his message of creating meals more healthy within the United States, promising to mannequin rules on these imposed in Europe. In a nod to Trump’s unique marketing campaign slogan, he known as the initiative “Make America Healthy Again.”
It’s unclear how this may sq. with Trump’s historical past of deregulating massive industries, together with meals. Trump, for instance, has pushed for fewer inspections within the meat business.
Kennedy’s stance on vaccines raises questions on his capacity to be confirmed, even in a GOP-controlled Senate.
He additionally mentioned he would suggest eradicating fluoride from consuming water, though fluoride ranges are mandated by state and native governments. The addition of the fabric has been cited as resulting in improved dental well being and is taken into account secure at low ranges.
He mentioned he’ll search to ban some meals components, cracking down on substances corresponding to meals colours and preservatives, that are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. It additionally focused pesticides, that are collectively regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency and the FDA.
Kennedy additionally attracted headlines for his historical past with wild animals. He admitted dumping a useless bear in New York’s Central Park, positioning it as if it had been hit by a bicycle, and located himself the topic of a federal investigation after his daughter revealed he had reduce off the top of a beached whale and having tied her with a strap. on the roof of his automobile to take him residence.
HHS has greater than 80,000 staff throughout the nation. Kennedy promised to take a severe have a look at those that work for HHS and its businesses, together with the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the CDC.
He mentioned he’s significantly centered on ending the “revolving door” of staff who’ve a historical past of working for pharmaceutical corporations or who go away authorities service to work for that business, his former supervisor final advised the AP of electoral communications, Del Bigtree. month. Bigtree can be an anti-vaccine organizer.
Kennedy mentioned he needed to fireside 600 staff on the National Institutes of Health, which oversees vaccine analysis.
The long-awaited appointment was first reported Thursday by Politico.
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine nonprofit group, Children’s Health Defense, at present has a lawsuit pending in opposition to numerous information organizations, together with The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust legal guidelines by performing to establish misinformation, together with about COVID-19 and COVID-19. 19 vaccines. Kennedy took go away of the group when he introduced his run for president, however is listed as certainly one of its attorneys within the lawsuit.
Trump additionally introduced Thursday that he’ll nominate Jay Clayton, who served as chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission throughout his first time period, as U.S. lawyer for the Southern District of New York.
Seitz reported from Washington. Associated Press author Zeke Miller in Washington and JoNel Aleccia in Temecula, California contributed to this report.
Originally revealed:
