The U.S. Senate on Thursday confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as President Donald Trump’s health secretary. The confirmation puts Kennedy, a notorious vaccine skeptic, in charge of spending the $1.7 trillion federal budget. He will also be responsible for vaccine recommendations, and food security and health insurance programs for about half the American population.
Republicans backed Trump despite reservations about Kennedy’s views on vaccines, voting 52-48 to nominate the heir to one of America’s most famous political families — and Democratic Party stalwarts — as secretary of Health and Human Services.
Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, who suffered from polio as a child, was the lone “no” vote among Republicans, reflecting his stance on Trump’s choices for Pentagon chief and director of national intelligence. All Democrats voted against Kennedy’s nomination.
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Republicans have largely embraced Kennedy's vision of "Making America Healthy Again" by directing public health agencies to focus on chronic diseases such as obesity.
Kennedy, 71, whose name and family tragedy have placed him in the national spotlight since he was a child, has gained a following with his populist and sometimes extreme views on food, chemicals and vaccines.
His following has grown during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Kennedy dedicated much of his time to a nonprofit that sued vaccine manufacturers and used social media campaigns to erode trust in vaccines and the government agencies that promote them.
With Trump's support, Kennedy asserted that he is "uniquely positioned" to restore trust in public health agencies, which include the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Last week, Sen. Thom Tillis, a Republican, said he expected Kennedy to “go wild” on controlling health care costs and improving the health of Americans. But before agreeing to endorse Kennedy, Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican and physician who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, asked for assurances that Kennedy would not change existing vaccine recommendations.
During the Senate hearing, Democrats tried to pressure Kennedy to disavow the long-discredited theory that vaccines cause autism. Some lawmakers also raised concerns about Kennedy profiting financially from changes to vaccine guidelines or weakening federal lawsuit protections for vaccine manufacturers.
Kennedy made more than $850,000 last year from a deal referring clients to a law firm that has sued the maker of Gardasil, a human papillomavirus vaccine that protects against cervical cancer. If confirmed as health secretary, he has promised to redirect the fees collected from that deal to his son.
Kennedy will take over the agency amid a sweeping overhaul of the federal government, led by billionaire Elon Musk, that has halted — albeit temporarily — billions of dollars in taxpayer funding for public health and left thousands of federal workers unemployed.
On Friday, the NIH announced it would limit billions of dollars in medical research given to universities and hospitals to develop treatments for diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer's.
Kennedy has also called for staff overhauls at the NIH, FDA and CDC. Last year, he vowed to lay off 600 employees at the NIH, the nation’s largest funder of biomedical research.
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