Donald Trump nominated anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to monitor US public health
President-elect Donald Trump announced Thursday that he would nominate the former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to run the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). It was a fulfillment of an implied promise Trump made at a campaign rally at New York’s Madison Square Garden in late October, where he said he would let Kennedy “go wild for health.”
Kennedy, a former Democrat and scion of a wealthy political family, first rose to prominence as an environmental lawyer and anti-vaccine activist. Around 2015, he joined the board of the nonprofit Children’s Health Protection, which alleges that conditions such as autism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder are caused by environmental factors. environment, including harmful agents in vaccines. Kennedy has gone viral multiple times Misinformation about vaccines and in 2021 was named one by the Center for Countering Digital Hate “dozens of false information,” spreading misinformation about the Covid-19 pandemic on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
He does proposecontrary to all reputable scientific studies, that Covid-19 may have been “ethnically targeted” to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese and that HIV does not cause AIDSand yes implies that the vaccination mandate is worse than the Holocaust. He also speak in 2012 testimony that a worm ate part of his brain and then died.
Kennedy’s account was banned from Instagram in 2021 for spreading vaccine misinformation. His account was restored in 2023, when he announced his candidacy.
In August, Kennedy suspended his campaign and endorsed Trumpsaying, “If President Trump is elected and sticks to his word, the enormous burden of chronic disease that is crushing and bankrupting the country will disappear.” He offered a slogan parallel to Trump’s MAGA—Make America Healthy Again (MAHA)—focuses on “prioritizing regenerative agriculture, preserving natural habitats, and removing toxins from our food, water, and air.”
HHS oversees 13 federal agencies—which Kennedy has indicated he will gut—including the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control.
However, Kennedy’s position still depends on congressional approval. Previous HHS leaders had long careers in public health or within the department itself before serving as department heads. The Republican-controlled Senate could go along with Trump, or it could point to Kennedy’s active promotion of conspiracy theories, long career as a loyal Democrat and Mixed views on abortion is the reason that prevents him from joining.
Although Kennedy has promised a complete overhaul of the system, experts who spoke to WIRED say he will likely goes against long-standing regulations that will be hard to overcome. Health policies are also heavily informed by advisory committees, made up of medical and public health experts, and it will take time for changes to completely overturn government recommendations. .
However, as HHS Director Kennedy will have considerable power lay off employees and declare a public health emergency.
