Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has officially been confirmed and sworn in as Secretary of HHS despite being dangerous and deeply unqualified to lead our nation’s health care system. During his confirmation hearings, Kennedy doubled down on his anti-vaccine views, failed to answer basic questions about our health care system, defended his comments linking vaccines to autism, called Lyme disease a military bioweapon, proposed that Black Americans should be on a different vaccine schedule, and much more. Instead of putting the health and safety of Americans first, Republicans rolled over for Donald Trump and Elon Musk. The consequences of his confirmation will touch nearly every household in the nation and every single preventable illness and death that results from his confirmation lands solely on the shoulders of Republicans.
HEADLINES
New York Times: Opinion: When ‘Just Asking Questions’ About Science Turns Into 300,000 Dead.
Dr. Gonsalves is an epidemiologist at the Yale School of Public Health.
- “The Senate has just confirmed as health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a science denialist who once said there is no vaccine that is safe and effective, who has suggested that Covid might have been genetically engineered to spare Jewish and Chinese people and who spent more than 100 pages in his recent book breathing new life into the idea that H.I.V. does not cause AIDS. All of this is nonsense, of course, but hardly a laughing matter. I am afraid for our country because I know what happens when science denialism comes into power.”
- “Mr. Kennedy’s science denialism has the potential to be worse than that of his South African counterparts. Because it’s not only his AIDS denialism we need to worry about, it is his rejection of vaccines and flirtation with the rejection of germ theory, a key foundation of modern biomedicine.”
Rolling Stone: Republicans Confirm Anti-Vax Conspiracy Theorist to Run Nation’s Health Systems.
- “The position will allow him to inflict untold damage on the well-being of millions in his ruinous quest to ‘Make America Healthy Again.’”
- “Another potential item on his agenda is the prosecution of leading medical journals if they don’t start publishing what he calls “real science,” which presumably encompasses the many debunked conspiracy theories he repeats. He has been especially critical of the FDA, accusing the agency of waging a “war on public health” and vowing to eliminate entire departments of the agency.”
- “But given his long, messy, alarming history of spreading misinformation and advocating for the downfall of the medical establishment, Trump’s promise that he will ‘go wild’ in this new job feels like something of an understatement.”
Time: ‘Terrifying’: Public Health Experts React to Senate’s Confirmation of RFK Jr. to Lead HHS.
- “Kennedy tried to distance himself from his previous anti-vaccine statements during his confirmation hearings, saying that he’s not ‘anti-vaccine’ but ‘pro-safety,’ and he has said that he and the Trump Administration wouldn’t take vaccines off the market. But experts cast doubt on whether the Administration would hold true to that statement, and many worry that Kennedy could appoint people to agencies like the FDA and CDC who could impede or revoke vaccine approvals, not only limiting access to but also sowing distrust in a powerful public health tool.”
- “Experts worry that Kennedy could exacerbate public distrust in science and medicine, and many say that his confirmation and the support he’s received is already a concerning sign of that.”
Common Dreams: Senate Confirms ‘Profoundly Unqualified’ RFK Jr. to Lead Nation’s Health Agencies.
- “He insisted that Americans ‘would prefer to be on private insurance’ and displayed a lack of knowledge about Medicaid and Medicare, appearing to confuse the two. He also denied being anti-vaccine while refusing to reject the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism, a failure that Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who is a physician, claimed to be troubled by—but Cassidy went ahead with his vote for Kennedy nonetheless.”
MSNBC: As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Heads to HHS, One Fear Tops the List.
- “I’m instead going to shine a light on what I consider to be the single biggest concern about Kennedy and our near future: Americans might confront serious public health challenges during his tenure, and we won’t be able to count on the man leading HHS.”
Washington Post: RFK Jr. Confirmed, Elevating Anti-Vaccine Activist to Nation’s Top Health Post.
- “His refusal to recognize the reams of evidence that contradict him and years of anti-vaccine advocacy have alarmed public health leaders as he takes over the nation’s vast health portfolio and could shape vaccine policy. It’s unprecedented for a HHS secretary to hold such views, health policy leaders said.”
Bloomberg: What RFK Jr.’s New Power Means for Vaccines, Weight-Loss Shots and Drug Ads.
- “As HHS secretary, Kennedy will have the power to influence immunization policies and approvals. Yet before he was nominated, an organization he founded, Children’s Health Defense, linked vaccines to autism and said they’d never properly been tested, among other disproven claims. Though he walked back some of his vaccine rhetoric during his confirmation hearings, telling senators he’s not ‘anti-vaccine or anti-industry,’ Kennedy refused to denounce the disproven theory that vaccines cause autism.”
New York Times: Senate Confirms Kennedy, a Prominent Vaccine Skeptic, as Health Secretary.
- “Mr. Kennedy will now lead the federal Department of Health and Human Services, a sprawling agency with 13 operating divisions, including some — the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — that he has called corrupt.”
Scientific American: Scientists React to RFK, Jr.’s Confirmation as HHS Secretary
- “‘The future of America as a superpower in research appears grim,’ says Theodora Hatziioannou, a virologist at the Rockefeller University in New York City, who creates new models for studying HIV ― which Kennedy has falsely suggested is not the cause of AIDS. ‘Even on issues he claims he supports, he does not follow scientific evidence. Picking a person like this to lead is like having the wolf guard the sheep.’”
NPR: RFK Jr. Confirmed as Trump’s Health Secretary, Over Democrats’ Loud Objections.
- “There is a lot Kennedy could do on vaccines in terms of appointing advisors, directing NIH research, and changing public health messaging about the importance of vaccines.”
Wall Street Journal: Kennedy Confirmed as Health Secretary.
- “Now, following the 52-to-48 vote and his subsequent swearing-in at the White House’s Oval Office, Kennedy is in position to apply his unconventional views to U.S. health policy. On vaccines, he could create a new panel to review their safety, appoint allies to the federal panel that oversees vaccine recommendations and even expand the vaccines or injuries covered by a federal program compensating victims.”
Politico: RFK Jr.’s Plans Could Make Musk’s Look Small.
- “Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is now in charge of the nation’s health agencies. His plans to upend them could make Elon Musk’s budget-cutting spree look modest by comparison.”