President-elect Donald Trump on Thursday nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has supported anti-vax theories, to become secretary of Health and Human Services in his administration. NBC Chicago’s Randy Gyllenhaal reports.
President-elect Donald Trump 's plan to appoint Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Health and Human Services Department will put a prominent vaccine skeptic at the helm of the nation's sprawling public health apparatus.
A scion of a famous Democratic dynasty, Kennedy made a name in his own right as an environmental attorney who successfully took on large corporations including DuPont and Monsanto.
Over the past two decades, he's increasingly devoted his energy to promoting claims about vaccines that contradict the overwhelming consensus of scientists.
Here's a look at Kennedy and the agency he'll be tasked with leading:
What does the Health and Human Services Department do?
HHS is a massive Cabinet agency that oversees everything from drug, vaccine and food safety to medical research and the social safety net programs Medicare and Medicaid.
"The mission of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is to enhance the health and well-being of all Americans, by providing for effective health and human services and by fostering sound, sustained advances in the sciences underlying medicine, public health, and social services," the department's website reads.
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What has Kennedy said about vaccines?
Kennedy’s stance on vaccines has 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 has espoused misinformation around the safety of vaccines, long advancing the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism, and previously saying vaccines have caused a “holocaust."
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He took over the anti-vaccine group Children's Health Defense and built it into a juggernaut during the pandemic. His activism helped him build a loyal following that he's leveraged in his political pursuits.
Kennedy insists he is not anti-vaccine and claims he has never told the public to avoid vaccination. But he has repeatedly made his opposition to vaccines clear. He said on a podcast “there’s no vaccine that is safe and effective” and has urged people to resist CDC guidelines on when kids should get vaccinated.
In an interview the day after the 2024 election, he told NBC News he wouldn't “take away anybody's vaccines.”
Asked whether there are specific vaccines he would aim to remove from the market, Kennedy said he wouldn't take them away from Americans.
"If vaccines are working for somebody, I’m not going to take them away. People ought to have choice, and that choice ought to be informed by the best information," he said. "So I’m going to make sure scientific safety studies and efficacy are out there, and people can make individual assessments about whether that product is going to be good for them."
Just days before the election, Trump, when asked, did not rule out whether he would ban certain vaccines.
“Well, I’m going to talk to [Kennedy] and talk to other people, and I’ll make a decision, but he’s a very talented guy and has strong views,” Trump told NBC News at the time.
While there are rare instances when people have severe reactions to vaccines, the billions of doses administered globally provide real-world evidence that they are safe. The World Health Organization says vaccines prevent as many as 5 million deaths each year.
Kennedy also wants to eliminate liability protections for drug companies.
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.
What about fluoride?
Even before Trump was elected, Kennedy said he would recommend water agencies stop adding fluoride to drinking water, although fluoride levels are mandated by state and local governments.
Fluoride strengthens teeth and is viewed as one of the biggest public health successes of the past century as the addition of the material has been cited as leading to improved dental health. While it can be toxic in large doses, health experts say those levels are hard to reach.
"Fluoride reverses early decay and remineralizes your tooth enamel. While fluoride can be harmful in large quantities, it’s difficult to reach toxic levels due to the low amount of fluoride in over-the-counter products like toothpastes and mouth rinses," the Cleveland Health Clinic reported.
What other health claims has Kennedy made?
Kennedy has pushed against processed foods and the use of herbicides like Roundup and has long criticized the large commercial farms and animal feeding operations that dominate the industry.
He has also made a variety of claims not backed by science, such as questioning whether HIV causes AIDS and suggesting antidepressants lead to school shootings.
What are RFK Jr.'s plans for the HHS department?
Trump said before the election he would give Kennedy free rein over health policy.
Kennedy has promised to take a serious look at those who work for HHS and its agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
He is especially focused on putting an end to the “revolving door” of employees who have previous history working for pharmaceutical companies or leave government service to work for that industry, his campaign communications manager Del Bigtree told the AP last month. Bigtree is also an anti-vaccine organizer.
He said he wants to fire 600 employees at the National Institutes of Health, which oversees vaccine research, and replace them with 600 new employees.
Many of the scientists and researchers who work at the NIH are not political appointees, which makes firing them abruptly more difficult. Nevertheless, Kennedy made the promise at the Genius Network Annual Event in Scottsdale, Arizona, according to a video first obtained by ABC News.
“We need to act fast, and we want to have those people in place on Jan. 20, so that on Jan. 21, 600 people are going to walk into offices at NIH and 600 people are going to leave,” Kennedy said, according to a video of his remarks posted on YouTube.
He says the public health establishment is too focused on infectious diseases and wants to redirect resources toward panoply of problems he characterizes as the chronic disease epidemic, including obesity, diabetes, autism and mental illnesses. He blames them on greedy corporations including drug companies that worry healthy Americans would be bad for their bottom line and food producers using harmful pesticides and additives.
Kennedy's family history
Kennedy's father was Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, brother of President John F. Kennedy. Both men were assassinated.
Kennedy's own run for president
Kennedy originally ran in the Democratic primary against President Joe Biden before deciding to launch an independent bid. He then suspended that bid earlier this year and endorsed Trump, who has repeatedly praised Kennedy, promised him influence in a future administration, and vowed to “Make America Healthy Again.” Numerous reports indicated Kennedy also reached out to Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign to discuss the possibility of an administration role in exchange for an endorsement prior to endorsing Trump, however.
Five of RFK Jr.'s siblings also released a statement on X calling his decision to endorse Trump a "betrayal."
