Another one of President-elect Donald Trump 's Cabinet appointments is under intense scrutiny. The former president announced on Thursday that he had picked Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
as his next Department of Health and Human Services secretary. The former presidential candidate—who first ran for the Democratic nomination before switching to an independent—is a well-known vaccine skeptic, and critics warn that his appointment could have dire consequences for public health. "In Donald Trump's America, an unscrupulous, unserious, and unqualified anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist will control millions of families' healthcare choices," Democratic Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, of New York, posted to X following Kennedy's nomination.
"These decisions will cost lives." "RFK Jr. poses a danger to public health, scientific research, medicine, and health care coverage for millions," Senator Elizabeth Warren , a Democrat from Massachusetts, added in a post to X Thursday.
"He wants to stop parents from protecting their babies from measles and his ideas would welcome the return of polio. I have a lot of questions for his Senate hearing." Kennedy has insisted that he is not anti-vax, although he has repeatedly pushed debunked claims about vaccines, including that childhood vaccines lead to autism.
When asked in July 2023 by podcaster Lex Fridman whether there were any safe and effective vaccines on the market, Kennedy said, "No." Trump, meanwhile, has also given mixed messages about vaccines.
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