NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump says he will nominate anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services, putting him in charge of a huge agency that oversees everything from drugs to… vaccines and food safety to medical research and the social safety net programs Medicare and Medicaid.
“For too long, Americans have been oppressed by the industrial food complex and pharmaceutical companies that have engaged in deception, misinformation and disinformation when it comes to public health,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social website announcing the appointment announced. Kennedy, he said, would “make America great and healthy again!”
Kennedy, a former Democrat who ran for president this year as an independent, abandoned his bid after striking a deal that gave Trump his support with a promise to play a role in the administration on health care policy.
He and Trump have since become good friends, with Kennedy often receiving noisy applause at Trump’s rallies.
The expected appointment was first reported by Politico on Thursday.
A long-time vaccine skeptic, Kennedy is a lawyer who over several decades has built a devoted following of people who admire his lawsuits against large pesticide and pharmaceutical companies. He is pushing for stricter regulations on food ingredients.
With the Trump campaign, he worked to strengthen support, especially for juvenile mothers, by promising to set a role model for the regulations introduced in Europe with his message of making food healthier in the USA. Echoing Trump’s original campaign slogan, he called the initiative “Make America Healthy Again.”
It remains unclear how this squares with Trump’s history of deregulating major industries, including food. Trump, for example, pushed for fewer controls on the meat industry.
Kennedy’s stance on vaccines has also made him a controversial figure among Democrats and some Republicans, raising doubts about his ability to be confirmed even in a GOP-controlled Senate. Kennedy has spread misinformation about the safety of vaccines, including pushing the completely discredited theory that vaccines cause autism in children.
He has also said he would recommend removing fluoride from drinking water. The addition of the material is said to lead to an improvement in dental health.
HHS employs more than 80,000 people nationwide. 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 nonprofit anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense currently has a lawsuit pending against a number of news organizations, including The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking actions to spread misinformation, among other things about COVID-19 and COVID-19. 19 vaccinations. Kennedy bid farewell to the group when he announced his presidential candidacy, but is listed in the lawsuit as one of its lawyers.
__ Seitz reported from Washington.
