President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday has nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine activist who dropped out of the 2024 presidential race and endorsed Trump, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
Donald Trump Jr. shared the news on X, and a source familiar confirmed it with NBC News.
During his presidential campaign, Kennedy developed a national profile for his criticism of the Covid vaccine and childhood immunizations. He has claimed that vaccines are tied to autism, despite evidence conveyed through studies over decades that have disproven such a claim.
The appointment of Kennedy, 70, to lead HHS ends days of speculation about what health role — if any — the former independent presidential candidate turned Trump advisor would play in the incoming administration.
Within HHS is a family of health agencies that includes the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Kennedy has claimed Trump “promised” him “control of the public health agencies."
Apart from the HHS role, Kennedy was said to be considered for a role of tackling obesity and diabetes in kids — known as “Operation Warp Speed for childhood chronic disease" — and Kennedy himself floated the idea of being a White House "health czar." It's unclear if any of those roles would give him the authority or influence that heading HHS could offer.
Kennedy, an environmental lawyer, is known for his misleading and false claims on vaccines, including repeated assertions that vaccines are linked to autism, even though for decades numerous studies across several countries have debunked the association. He also founded Children’s Health Defense, a leading anti-vaccine group.
Other people said to be considered for the role were Trump's former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and retired neurosurgeon, Ben Carson, and Lousiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who once led the state's Department of Health and Hospitals.
If confirmed, Kennedy's role might spell a major shakeup for the federal health agencies, including the FDA, where Kennedy has threatened to eliminate entire departments and fire agency employees who wage "war on public health."
On Thursday, NBC News reported that some FDA staff were considering a quick exit should Kennedy be selected for a prominent health role.
Kennedy has also suggested that he would ban fluoride in drinking water as well as strip ultra-processed foods from Americans' diets.
In the first Trump administration, the president tapped former pharmaceutical executive Alex Azar to the top health agency role. Azar replaced the first Trump-appointed health secretary Tom Price, who resigned over his use of private jets for government business, costing U.S. taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollar.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
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Get your shots while they still exist.
I'll pay the shot for my son in Wisconsin to take my three grandchildren to Canada to get their vaccinations. Let the American kids learn what an iron lung is and suffer enough sickness to reduce their learning and working abilities and lessen their life spans.
Hey man, you remember how we talked the other day about how your family is going to be fine and all this panic you see on internet forums like this is all nonsense?
This is another one of those times.
Your grandkids are going to get their shots. You don't need to worry.
Worst case, we'll have some whacko anti-vaxx Karens who choose not to immunize their kids. Most of them homeschool anyway, which is great, because who wants to put up with that bitch at the PTA meeting, so it all works out.
How many millions of people do you think that RFK Jr, in the next four years, will convince, due to his high government position in the field of health care, to stop believing that vaccines protect them and their kids ?
A new requirement for cabinet level appointments - You have to have promoted at least three publicly recognized conspiracy theories.
I'm curious who you think he should have appointed.
Someone who doesnt spread lies on health issues.
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You mean like boys can be girls and girls can be boys like the current assistant HHS director has pushed for four years?
Welcome to America in the near future.
Well, if it was good enough for Franklin Deleno Roosevelt it's good enough for America's kids today. Even one of those in the iron lungs could be PotUS one day.
I think you might be getting a bit carried away here, buddy.
It is amazing how quickly Democrats turned on Kennedy. He believed all this stuff in 2008 when he was a finalist for HHS under Obama. But now he's a nutter.
Perhaps he can bring the SG from Florida, Dr. Ladapo our vaccination rate for measles is at 90% and it requires 95% to have a wall against a pandemic.
If you want to see what a measles outbreak can do in recent history goggle Measles outbreak in Samoa.