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!”
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 have since become good friends, with Kennedy frequently receiving loud applause at Trump’s rallies.
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 has also made him a controversial figure among Democrats and some Republicans, raising question about his ability to get confirmed, even in a GOP-controlled Senate. Kennedy has espoused misinformation around the safety of vaccines, including pushing a totally discredited theory that childhood vaccines cause autism.
He also has said he would recommend removing fluoride from drinking water. The addition of the material has been 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, currently 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.
(AP)
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13 Responses
The “theory” that vaccines cause autism may have been “totally discredited”, but it hasn’t been disproven. Just because you pour scorn on an idea, that doesn’t make it go away. RFK Jr has offered to publicly debate anyone about the vaccines, but no-one has taken him up.
Regarding your statement “… totally discredited theory that childhood vaccines cause autism,” you are the one spreading misinformation! There is reliable, peer-reviewed evidence that, in fact, childhood vaccines cause autism. The evidence is provided by highly qualified professionals who are not taking shochad from Big Pharma and Big Media. You are making a highly-unprofessional statement.
BH.
Stop reposting AP lies. MSM can’t be objective if their biggest ad revenue is from Pharma. Bobby Kennedy is FOR safer vaccines and pharma accountability including ending their zero liability protection.
What is the 3rd cause of death in America? Google it.
RFK jr is not anti vaccine, he’s just more aware of the risks involved in vaccinations than your regular dr who swallows everything fed by a corrupted medical complex
btw, the corruption didn’t start recently, it started with john Rockefeller but has been exemplified by the 1986 Reagan law to ‘immunize’ vaccine manufactures from liability and lawsuits
all of the Nazi’s from WW11 are now together…..Kennedy’s father was a partner with Hitler Churchill and Roosevelt….all of this hidden agendas….will surface.,….keep their hands off my Israel. my Jerusalem
You guys all just want to believe the unconventional things and hang on to it. You all are basically saying that almost every frum doctor is dumb and wants to cause autism and is blinded. You guys know much better and are much smarter than them. I hope you all don’t use any of them since you clearly know medicine much better.
This is besides which, even if it does cause autism, I much rather have a son with autism than one who will die at 5 years old because of measles.
Everything in life has risks. However, one needs to weigh the pros against the risks and in this case, it is not even close to being a shyla.
Would anyone go to Kennedy to treat a cavity? His own family says he’s a whacko.
RFK has been my hero for years. He’s the only one brave enough to go against the most powerful companies in the world.
He’s the only one to state it like it is- our govt agencies are corrupt and don’t protect us anymore. They only care about protecting corporate interests. He has sued on behalf of Americans multiple times and stands up for freedom from medical tyranny and dishonesty. He is risking his life to undo the decades of corruption which have sickened this country and made our children the sickest in history. I can’t start to name all the ways but trust me there are many ways that our government agencies have knowingly allowed big corporations whether food or pharma to allow (and even mandate) products with toxic ingredients banned in other countries or drugs with shoddy safety studies. They need to be burned down and rebuilt. With no pharma or corporate sponsors or royalty arrangements. Oh and PS
If anyone says vaccines don’t cause autism come visit my friends child who went from a healthy boy in a normal school to being severely autistic overnight. All because of an MMR.
He is not anti-vaccine. He is free choice. And he opposes big pharm being exempt from liability for faulty products. And you don’t need to drink fluoride. Just put it on your teeth. Drinking it is dangerous,
Here’s my view on this issue. I’m not an anti vaxxer but I recognize that there is plenty of corruption in the cdc fda and big pharma. It all came to the forefront during covid. So in order to root it all out a good anti vaxxer is a good idea to bring it back to the middle
rt: Get over it, your gal Harris lost. You can quack all you want, nobody cares.
One thing is good. We need to get rid of all the dangerous unhealthy colorings in food products like ices and ice cream.
To Kingda Ka. Find me a frum doctor, or for that matter any doctor who has spent more than an hour INDEPENDENTLY investigating the safety and efficacy of vaccines, and we’ll all be happy to listen to what he has to say.