On Thursday, US President-elect Donald Trump nominated vaccine sceptic Robert F Kennedy Jr to move up the nation’s prime well being company, the Division of Well being and Human Companies.
“I’m thrilled to announce Robert F Kennedy Jr as the USA Secretary of Well being and Human Companies [HHS],” Trump wrote on Thursday on his social media platform, Reality Social.
Who’s Robert F Kennedy Jr?
Kennedy, 70, also called RFK Jr, is an environmental lawyer and member of the American political Kennedy household.
He’s the son of late US senator and lawyer common Robert F Kennedy and nephew of John F Kennedy, who was US president between 1961 and 1963, when he was assassinated.
He’s identified for having a neurological dysfunction that impacts his voice, and which US media has reported he blames on a flu vaccine he obtained.
Kennedy ran for president on this yr’s election, initially as a Democrat. After failing to safe a nomination from the social gathering, he ran for the election as an independent. In late August, he dropped his presidential bid altogether to throw his help behind Trump as an alternative.
Kennedy’s nomination as secretary of well being and human providers within the subsequent Trump administration doesn’t come as a shock. Even earlier than his election, Trump, throughout his rallies, was touting Kennedy as somebody who “cares extra about human beings, well being and the atmosphere than anyone”.
The president-elect advised a New York Metropolis rally on October 27 that he would let Kennedy “go wild” on well being, meals and medicines.
Kennedy has coined the slogan “Make America Wholesome Once more” (MAHA).
What does the US Division of Well being and Human Companies do?
The division oversees all federal well being issues within the US.
It oversees the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC), the Nationwide Institutes of Well being (NIH) and the large Medicare and Medicaid Companies programmes, which offer well being protection for these with restricted earnings, these aged 65 and older, and disabled individuals.
The place does Kennedy stand on well being points?
Kennedy has turn out to be topic to controversy as a consequence of his stance on a number of points. These embody:
Vaccines
Kennedy has lengthy been sceptical of vaccines. He’s the chair of the nonprofit activist group Youngsters’s Well being Protection, which largely spreads antivaccine info.
He additionally has tried to hawk the conspiracy idea that vaccines trigger autism in kids. One occasion of this was throughout a 2005 interview with Joe Scarborough on US information channel MSNBC.
He repeated this idea in a 2023 episode of the Joe Rogan Expertise podcast. The notion that vaccines trigger autism has been disproven by myriad scientific research.
NBC Information reported that Kennedy additionally believes the flu shot brought about him to develop a uncommon neurological dysfunction that affected his voice.
Nevertheless, he denies being an “anti-vaxxer” and advised NBC Information a day after Trump’s victory that he won’t “take away anyone’s vaccines”.
Fluoride in water
In response to the CDC web site, most communities within the US have a small quantity of fluoride added to faucet water to forestall cavities and enhance oral well being. The fluoridation of water is a CDC suggestion.
On November 4, Kennedy rallied in opposition to fluoridation of water in a social media publish. Trump stated the concept “sounds OK” to him.
“Fluoride is an industrial waste related to arthritis, bone fractures, bone most cancers, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental issues, and thyroid illness,” wrote Kennedy.
A federal assessment printed by the Nationwide Toxicology Program on the Nationwide Institutes of Well being (NIH) in August concluded that greater ranges of fluoride are certainly linked to decrease IQ in kids.
In late September this yr, US District Choose Edward Chen ordered the Environmental Safety Company (EPA) to additional regulate fluoridation of water because it may hinder mental improvement in kids.
He cautioned that it isn’t sure whether or not the present quantity of fluoride in water is inflicting IQ loss in kids.
Scientific specialists say additional analysis is required to succeed in a sound conclusion on this matter.
In response to the CDC, no proof has been discovered that fluoride can have an effect on different well being points, comparable to inflicting beginning defects or most cancers.
Meals and Drug Administration
Kennedy has been most crucial of the FDA, which oversees practically $3 trillion in medicines, meals and tobacco merchandise. In interviews and on social media, Kennedy has accused company workers of being motivated by company pursuits and “doing the bidding” of Massive Pharma and Massive Meals, the Reuters information company reported.
In October this yr, Kennedy wrote in an X publish: “Should you work for the FDA and are a part of this corrupt system, I’ve two messages for you: 1. Protect your data, and a couple of. Pack your luggage.”
FDA’s conflict on public well being is about to finish. This consists of its aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, uncooked milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, nutritional vitamins, clear meals, sunshine, train, nutraceuticals and something…
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) October 25, 2024
COVID-19
Kennedy opposed the federal lockdown that was imposed after the outbreak of COVID-19 within the US. The restrictions, which noticed individuals confined to their houses and restricted in who they may meet with in individual, have been put in place to forestall the virus from spreading.
He has additionally promoted the usage of hydroxychloroquine as a remedy for the virus, which has been discredited as an efficient remedy.
Moreover, in July 2023, the New York Submit uploaded a video through which Kennedy appeared to say that the virus had been designed to focus on individuals based mostly on their ethnicity. No proof has ever been proven to help this idea.
“COVID-19 is focused to assault Caucasians and Black individuals. The people who find themselves most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese language,” he will be heard saying within the video.
How are individuals reacting to Trump’s nomination of Kennedy?
Whereas some Republicans in Congress, carefully aligned with Trump, welcomed the nomination, many say they’re apprehensive.
Invoice Cassidy, Republican Louisiana senator, posted on his X account, saying Kennedy “has championed points like wholesome meals and the necessity for better transparency in our public well being infrastructure”, including that he’s trying ahead to studying about Kennedy’s different coverage positions.
Cassidy graduated with a medical diploma from Louisiana State College College of Drugs and labored as a doctor earlier than getting into politics.
.@RobertKennedyJr has championed points like wholesome meals and the necessity for better transparency in our public well being infrastructure. I stay up for studying extra about his different coverage positions and the way they are going to help a conservative, pro-American agenda.
— U.S. Senator Invoice Cassidy, M.D. (@SenBillCassidy) November 14, 2024
Republican Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson posted on X: “[Kennedy is] a superb, brave truth-teller whose unwavering dedication to transparency will make America a more healthy nation.”
When Tommy Tuberville, Republican senator from Alabama was requested if he would vote to verify Kennedy’s appointment, Tuberville responded with “100%”. He posted on his X account saying, “Nobody has carried out extra to reveal corruption in massive pharma and massive meals. Make America Wholesome Once more!” The Alabama senator can also be a member of the Senate Well being Committee.
Nevertheless, Republican Senator from Maine Susan Collins was quoted in The New York Occasions as saying, “I discover a few of his statements to be alarming, however I’ve by no means even met with him or sat down with him or heard him converse at size.”
Democrats raised some alarm about Kennedy’s nomination.
Ed Markey, Democratic senator for Massachusetts quoted a information article of Kennedy’s nomination on his X platform, alongside the phrases, “Harmful. Unqualified. Unserious.”
Harmful. Unqualified. Unserious. https://t.co/jSwKkNrijC
— Ed Markey (@SenMarkey) November 14, 2024
Washington Senator Patty Murray, a Democrat, additionally quoted the information on X, saying the appointment may “set America again by way of public well being, reproductive rights, analysis, & extra”. “This might not be extra harmful,” she wrote.
This might not be extra harmful. There is not any telling how far an anti-vaxxer & fringe conspiracy theorist like RFK Jr. may set America again by way of public well being, reproductive rights, analysis, & extra. And the implications should not theoretical—they’re life or demise points. https://t.co/nE3Lw2oJRE
— Senator Patty Murray (@PattyMurray) November 14, 2024
“Placing someone in command of any public well being service who’s a vaccine denier places in danger the soundness of the nation at giant,” Jeremy Levin, CEO of biotech firm Ovid Therapeutics and a former chairman of biotech foyer group BIO advised the Reuters information company in October.
“Vaccine denialism, which is a central plank of RFK’s, is probably as harmful as something as you may think about,” Levin stated.
Shares of vaccine producers together with American multinational Pfizer and mRNA vaccine producer Moderna fell by as a lot as 2 p.c following the information.
