Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the infamous vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theorist who specialists warn will sabotage public well being efforts worldwide, has been confirmed as President Donald Trump’s decide to guide the Division of Well being and Human Companies.
The chamber confirmed Kennedy by a vote of 52-48 largely alongside social gathering strains.
Former longtime Senate Majority Chief Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), a childhood polio survivor, was the one member of his social gathering to vote towards Trump’s decide.
Kennedy, an “unfathomable” nominee within the eyes of public well being specialists, has questioned the hyperlink between HIV and AIDS, tied homosexual and transgender identities to chemical publicity, pushed to take away fluoride from ingesting water, recommended COVID-19 was genetically engineered to focus on sure races, claimed Black individuals might have completely different immune programs and recommended anti-depressants are extra addictive than opioids and are linked to college shootings.
However he’s maybe finest recognized for the misinformation he’s unfold about vaccines. He’s mentioned they aren’t examined sufficient — one thing specialists dispute — and has recommended vaccine trials that might be ethically doubtful, doubtlessly requiring youngsters to go with out safety towards extreme illness. He’s additionally falsely linked vaccines to autism. When given the prospect to stroll that declare again throughout his affirmation listening to, he refused.
Justifying his vote, McConnell mentioned in a press release that over his lifetime, he has “watched vaccines save thousands and thousands of lives from devastating ailments throughout America and around the globe.”
“I can’t condone the re-litigation of confirmed cures, and neither will thousands and thousands of People who credit score their survival and high quality of life to scientific miracles,” he mentioned.
Now that Kennedy has been confirmed, he’ll have a number of avenues to curtail vaccine entry and uptake, together with by revising authorities vaccine advisories, abolishing the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, requiring further post-market research on vaccines, sowing public mistrust in immunization and weakening authorized protections for vaccine makers.
Trump has recommended he’ll let Kennedy do no matter he needs with American well being tips.
“I’m going to let him go wild on well being. I’m going to let him go wild on the meals. I’m going to let him go wild on the medicines,” Trump mentioned at a marketing campaign rally in October.
In 2023, when Kennedy was nonetheless a candidate for president, he mentioned at an anti-vaccine convention that with him in cost, the nation would “give infectious illness [research] a break for about eight years.” He has as a substitute emphasised a deal with dietary points and “power illness.”
An early check of Kennedy’s management could also be his response to the rising outbreak of hen flu, which largely presents in animals however has begun infecting people. Pandemic specialists say they’ve critical issues in regards to the virus swapping genes with the seasonal flu, permitting it to unfold extra simply.
Regardless of his many deceptive statements previously, Kennedy spent a lot of his Senate affirmation hearings claiming that he’s supportive of vaccines. When confronted by Democrats with feedback he’s made within the current years ― from saying that “there’s no vaccine that’s protected and efficient” in 2023, to saying he’d “pay something” to return in time and never vaccinate his youngsters in 2020 ― Kennedy repeatedly mentioned his remarks had been taken out of context.
The pushback towards Kennedy from the general public well being neighborhood has been huge. Final month, greater than 700 specialists within the area signed an open letter pleading with senators to not affirm him. Earlier than that, greater than 17,000 docs signed the same letter.
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“This appointment is a slap within the face to each well being care skilled who has spent their lives working to guard sufferers from preventable sickness and dying,” the docs’ letter reads. “People deserve higher.”
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), who as soon as roomed with Kennedy in legislation college, was blunt with him through the affirmation listening to.
“Frankly, you frighten individuals,” Whitehouse advised him.