Trump chooses anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary
NEW YORK — President-elect Donald Trump says he will nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, putting him in charge of a massive agency that oversees everything from drug, vaccine and food safety to medical research and the social safety net programs Medicare and Medicaid.
“For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social site announcing the appointment. Kennedy, he said, would “Make America Great and Healthy Again!”
Trump also announced Doug Collins, a former congressman from Georgia, is his choice to run the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Collins is a chaplain in the U.S. Air Force Reserve Command. The Republican served in Congress from 2013 to 2021, and he helped defend Trump during his first impeachment process.
Kennedy, a former Democrat who ran as an independent in this year’s presidential race, abandoned his bid after striking a deal to give Trump his endorsement with a promise to have a role in health policy in the administration.
He and Trump since became good friends, with Kennedy frequently receiving loud applause at Trump’s rallies.
The expected appointment was first reported by Politico Thursday.
A longtime vaccine skeptic, Kennedy is an attorney who has built a loyal following over several decades of people who admire his lawsuits against major pesticide and pharmaceutical companies. He has pushed for tighter regulations around the ingredients in foods.
With the Trump campaign, he worked to shore up support among young mothers in particular, with his message of making food healthier in the U.S., promising to model regulations imposed in Europe.
In a nod to Trump’s original campaign slogan, he named the effort “Make America Healthy Again.”
It remains unclear how that will square with Trump’s history of deregulation of big industries, including food. Trump pushed for fewer inspections of the meat industry, for example.
Kennedy’s stance on vaccines also made him a controversial figure among Democrats and some Republicans, raising questions about his ability to get confirmed, even in a GOP-controlled Senate. Kennedy espouses misinformation around the safety of vaccines, including pushing a totally discredited theory that childhood vaccines cause autism.
He also says he would recommend removing fluoride from drinking water. The addition of fluoride in the 20th century is cited as leading to improved dental health.
HHS has more than 80,000 employees across the country. It houses the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Medicare and Medicaid programs and the National Institutes of Health.
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine nonprofit group, Children’s Health Defense, has a lawsuit pending against a number of news organizations, among them The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation, including about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines.
Kennedy took leave from the group when he announced his run for president but is listed as one of its attorneys in the lawsuit.
Full sweep
Meanwhile, Republicans won enough seats late Wednesday to control the U.S. House, completing the party’s sweep into power and securing their hold on U.S. government alongside Trump.
A House Republican win in Arizona, alongside another in slow-counting California earlier Wednesday, gave the GOP the 218 House victories that make up the majority. Republicans also gained control of the Senate from Democrats this week.
With thin majorities, Republican leaders envision a mandate to upend the federal government and swiftly implement Trump’s vision for the country.
The incoming president promises to carry out the country’s largest-ever deportation operation, extend tax breaks, punish his political enemies, seize control of the federal government’s most powerful tools and reshape the U.S. economy. The GOP election victories ensure that Congress will be onboard for that agenda, and Democrats will be almost powerless to check it.
