The Senate today confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the nation's highest health official and he was sworn in a short time later by Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch in an Oval Office ceremony.
It was perhaps the most controversial of President Trump's recent Cabinet nominations. Critics condemned what they said were Kennedy's fringe views on health and nutrition, noting that he is not a doctor or recognized academic in the field.
Dr. Peter G. Lurie, president of the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest condemned Kennedy as "without doubt the most inappropriate choice to lead Health and Human Services in the history of the agency."
He said Kennedy has "a demonstrated talent for getting people to believe things that are not true" and went on to list them:
- He questions whether germs cause infectious disease.
- He believes we should pause infectious disease research and drug development research for ‘about eight years.’
- He believes unpasteurized milk is safe to drink.
Lurie said Kennedy has consistently spread misinformation about vaccines for years, including the debunked claim that they cause autism, that there is no safe or effective vaccine, that the polio vaccine killed more people than it saved, and that COVID-19 vaccine authorization should have been revoked in the middle of the pandemic.
Trump took issue with the critics. “There’s no better person to lead our campaign of historic reforms and historic faith in American health care,” he said.
Most Republican Senators sided with Kennedy in a 52-48 vote, with Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the lone holdout.
Himself a polio survivor, McConnell said Kennedy had "a record of trafficking in dangerous conspiracy theories and eroding trust in public health institutions."
At the Department of Health and Human Services, Kennedy will be in charge of a $2 trillion budget covering 13 divisions, including the Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Kennedy has labeled some of these agencies as corrupt and has said they were puppets of the pharmaceutical industry.
The drug industry awaits awaiting Kennedy's tenure with trepidation and the food industry is not far behind. Besides questioning vaccines and arguing that Americans are over-medicated, Kennedy has been critical of processed food and the weight-loss drugs that, like Ozempic, have won large numbers of enthusiastic users. He has vowed to address the "sick food system," sending shock waves through the food and restaurant industries.
About RFK Jr.
Over his 40-year career, Mr. Kennedy established two groundbreaking organizations. He founded the world’s largest clean water advocacy group, Waterkeeper Alliance, and served as its longtime chairman and attorney. It now protects 5.9 million square miles of waterways with more than 300 Waterkeeper groups and 1 million volunteers in the United States and 46 other countries.
He also founded Children’s Health Defense, a mass membership organization where he served as chairman and chief litigation counsel in its campaign to address childhood chronic disease and toxic exposures. He is the nephew of America’s 35th President, John F. Kennedy, and the son of his Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy