President-elect Donald Trump has nominated prominent anti-vaxxer Robert Kennedy Jr as his Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
“I am thrilled to announce Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS),” Trump wrote on social media. “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 added that under Kennedy, HHS “will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives.”
Kennedy, a prominent anti-vaxxer, endorsed Trump in August after ending his long shot Independent bid for presidency. In return, Trump pledged to appoint Kennedy to a key role in his administration.
At a rally in Madison Square Garden last month, Trump said he would let Kennedy “go wild” in dealing with issues related to food, medicine and health.
“I’m going to let him go wild on health. I’m going to let him go wild on the food. I’m going to let him go wild on the medicines,” Trump said.
The next day, Kennedy said on a livestream that Trump promised him control over health policy in the country.
“The key that I think I’m – you know, that President Trump has promised me is – is control of the public health agencies, which are HHS and its sub-agencies, CDC, FDA, NIH and a few others, and then also the USDA, which is – which, you know, is key to making America healthy,” Kennedy said.
“Because we’ve got to get off of seed oils, and we’ve got to get off of pesticide intensive agriculture,” he added.
Health experts have expressed concerns about the harmful impacts Kennedy could have on public health.
Kennedy is one of the leading proponents of anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and has urged parents not to vaccinate their child. He has spread misinformation about vaccines by claiming they cause autism despite decades of studies debunking that claim.
Earlier this month, Kennedy said on social media that the Trump administration would advise all U.S. water systems to remove fluoride from public water. He has also said there are “entire departments” within the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that “have to go.”
