On November 14th, Donald Trump took a dangerous step for Americans’ health by nominating anti-vaccince conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to run the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). For years, Kennedy has spouted dangerous anti-vaccination beliefs and spread baseless lies about fluoride in the water supply. While on the campaign trail, he promised to stop research on drug development and infectious diseases. RFK Jr. is a MAGA loyalist who will put the personal interests of Donald Trump ahead of the needs of the American people. The truth is that RFK Jr. is unqualified to lead HHS and radically out of step with the American people. If confirmed, he will be a disaster for our public health. But don’t just take our word for it:
Dr. Mandy Cohen, CDC Director: RFK Jr. Will Take Us “Backwards.” “I don’t want to go backwards and see children or adults suffer or lose their lives to remind us that vaccines work, and so I’m concerned.” [11/14/24]
Kathleen Sebelius, Former Health and Human Services Secretary: RFK Jr.’s Nomination Is “Terrifying For The American Public”. “To have someone coming into a scientific agency that is a vaccine skeptic and may well undo decades of public health work, I think, is terrifying for the American public who rely on HHS from cradle to grave for resources, for information, for public health, for oversight of our food and medicines. That, to me, is a very frightening aspect for the American public.” [11/15/24]
Dr. Richard Besser, Former Acting CDC Director, President and CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation: Having RFK Jr. Lead HHS “Is Extremely Dangerous.” “But to keep lifting up the idea that [the cause of autism] has something to do with vaccination is really a cruel thing to do. It’s pushing the idea that vaccines should be something that is totally up to the individual. We have a social contract in our country. There are things we do for our own health, but there are things we do that are good for ourselves, our families and our communities, and vaccination falls into that category and having somebody who denies that in that role is extremely dangerous. I am outraged because lives are at stake here. The head of Health and Human Services touches programs that affect every single life in our country. To have someone leading HHS who is one of the biggest deniers of vaccines in our country, would undermine the confidence in that program and likely would cost lives.” [11/17/24]
Josh Sharfstein, Former FDA Deputy Commissioner and Public Health Professor at Johns Hopkins University: RFK Jr. Is a “Purveyor of Falsehoods.” “He is a purveyor of falsehoods and he has nothing but contempt for people who work in agencies and have devoted their careers to using science to improve health.” [11/14/24]
Dr. Ashish Jha, Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health, Former Biden Administration COVID-19 Coordinator: RFK Jr. is an “Extraordinarily Bad Choice for the Health of the American People.” “This is an extraordinarily bad choice for the health of the American people. The HHS Secretary shapes health policy in profound ways. He would oversee Medicare for instance — and determine and shape your parents and grandparents’ health insurance. He and people he appoints would oversee the agency that decides what medicines are available to the American people. His ideas may sound good on bumper stickers but are unserious and often downright harmful. Our healthcare system is far from perfect. But it has spurred so much progress that has benefitted the American people. This appointment, if confirmed, puts all of that at risk.” [11/14/24]
Georges C. Benjamin, Executive Director of the American Public Health Association: “The American People Deserve Better.” “Unfortunately, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has demonstrated a consistent lack of willingness to listen, learn, and act in the best interest of the health of the American people. He was identified in 2021 as a member of the ‘Disinformation Dozen’ that produced 65% of the shares of anti-vaccine misinformation on social media platforms that contributed to the public’s mistrust in science and likely led to morbidity and mortality. The American people deserve better than Mr. Kennedy. We need an HHS secretary under the Trump administration who will listen to science, not discredit it.” [11/18/24]
Jonathan Reiner, MD, Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory at George Washington University Hospital and Professor of Medicine at George Washington University: RFK Jr. Is “Unfit” to Lead HHS. “He fits with the pattern we’ve seen this week… the hiring of people that are not just unqualified… but unfit. Mr. Kennedy has already shown over the last ten years his penchant for not just promoting unproven ideas but promoting disproven ideas. He has loudly promoted conspiracy theories such as the COVID virus being bioengineered to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese [people], he’s promoted the completely disproven concept that vaccines are connected to autism, he’s been a loud not just skeptic but denier of the safety and efficacy of all vaccines, most recently mRNA vaccines… So basically we’re putting not just a vaccine denier but a science skeptic in charge of all of the nation’s premier health agencies.” [11/14/24]
Dr. Andrea Love, Immunologist, Microbiologist: “The Damage He Could Do Is Near Infinite.” “Honestly, if you look at the purview of HHS Secretary, the damage he could do is near infinite. And none of his long history gives any indication he will actually do anything to improve health, especially for those of lower socioeconomic status. I can honestly say it has never been this bad… [He could] skew, redirect, and reallocate grant and research funding [toward] fringe research,… cut funding for education and public health initiatives like vaccine campaigns or other public health interventions like fluoridation,… [and slow or halt regulatory approval] for vaccines, biologics, immunotherapies, and other critical medical interventions.” [11/15/24]
Torney Smith, Spokane Regional Health District Administrator: RFK Jr. Doesn’t Understand Public Health “At All.” “I have some early grave concerns. We know enough about Kennedy to understand that he is a person who does not believe in immunizations. He’s an individual that I don’t think understands public health at all. And to put a person like that in charge is reckless, in my opinion.” [11/15/24]
Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group: “The Consequence Will Be Fatal.” Kennedy could use HHS “to pursue the same anti-science positions on life-saving public health interventions that he has advanced previously. If this makes families hesitate to immunize against the deadly diseases that threaten children, the consequence will be fatal for some.” [11/15/24]
Sean O’Leary, Chair of the Committee on Infectious Diseases for the American Academy of Pediatrics: “We Will Have Preventable Deaths.” “My fear is that children and the public will be harmed by an assault on science. We will see more measles, more pertussis. We will have preventable deaths based on politics and misinformation.” [11/14/24]
Timothy Caulfield, Professor in the Faculty of Law and the School of Public Health at the University of Alberta: RFK Jr. Will Cause “Generational Harm.” “Horrifying. A genuine catastrophe. This is a person who has spread deadly lies and conspiracy theories. He ignores evidence. He ignores experts. I have no doubt that he will do great harm—generational harm—to public health, trust in science, and biomedical research. Moreover, at the international level, he will platform, normalize, and legitimize pseudoscience and health misinformation, making it more ubiquitous and difficult to fact check.” [11/15/24]
Robert Weissman, Co-President of Public Citizen: RFK Jr. Is A “Clear and Present Danger.” “Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is a clear and present danger to the nation’s health. He shouldn’t be allowed in the building at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), let alone be placed in charge of the nation’s public health agency. Donald Trump’s bungling of public health policy during the Covid pandemic cost hundreds of thousands of lives. By appointing Kennedy as his Secretary of HHS, Trump is courting another, policy-driven public health catastrophe.” [11/14/24]