NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect donald trump introduced Thursday that he’ll nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to steer the Division of Well being and Human Providers, placing a person whose views public well being officers have known as harmful in command of an enormous company that oversees all the pieces from drug security, vaccines and meals to medical analysis, Medicare and Medicare.
“For too lengthy, Individuals have been crushed by the meals industrial complicated and pharmaceutical firms which have engaged in deception and misinformation on the subject of public well being,” Trump mentioned Thursday in a put up on his Reality Social web site. asserting the appointment. Kennedy, he mentioned, would “finish the continual illness epidemic” and “make America nice and wholesome once more.”
Trump mentioned Kennedy would deal with medication, meals components and chemical substances.
As one of many Essentially the most distinguished anti-vaccine activists. World wide, Kennedy's nomination instantly alarmed some public well being officers.
Dr. Mandy Cohen, director of the US Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, informed The Related Press: “I don't wish to return and see kids or adults undergo or lose their lives to remind us that vaccines They work, and that's why I'm nervous.”
Trump additionally introduced Thursday that he has chosen Doug Collins, a former congressman from Georgia, to steer the Division of Veterans Affairs. Collins is a chaplain for the US Air Drive Reserve Command. The Republican served in Congress from 2013 to 2021 and helped defend Trump throughout his first impeachment trial.
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Later Thursday, Trump mentioned he was nominating North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to steer the Inside Division. After ending his personal presidential marketing campaign in December 2023, Burgum endorsed Trump and have become an outspoken supporter, showing on tv information reveals, rallies and different occasions. He was on Trump's brief listing of potential operating mates.
Kennedy comes from one of many nation's most well-known political households and is the son of the late Legal professional Common Robert F. Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy. He first challenged President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination final yr. He then ran as an unbiased however deserted his candidacy this summer time after putting a deal to endorse Trump in change for a promise to play a task in well being coverage throughout a second Trump administration.
Since then, he and the president-elect have turn into good buddies. The 2 campaigned extensively collectively through the last stretch of the race, and Trump made clear that he supposed to offer Kennedy a serious public well being position.
“I'm going to let him go loopy on well being,” Trump mentioned at a rally final month.
In the course of the marketing campaign, Kennedy informed NewsNation that Trump had requested him to “reorganize” businesses, together with the CDC, the Nationwide Institutes of Well being and the Meals and Drug Administration.
Kennedy has lobbied towards processed meals and the usage of herbicides such because the Roundup herbicide. He has lengthy criticized the big business farms and animal feeding operations that dominate the trade.
However he’s maybe greatest identified for his criticism of childhood vaccines.
Time and time once more, Kennedy has made his opposition to vaccines clear. In July, he mentioned in a podcast interview that “there isn’t a vaccine that’s protected and efficient” and informed FOX Information that he nonetheless believes in thought lengthy discredited that vaccines could cause autism.
In a 2021 podcast, he urged folks to “resist” CDC tips advising when kids ought to obtain routine vaccines.
“I see somebody on a mountaineering path holding a child and I say, 'You higher not get vaccinated,'” Kennedy mentioned.
Repeated scientific research in america and overseas have discovered no hyperlink between vaccines and autism. Vaccines have been proven to be protected and efficient in laboratory exams and in real-world use in a whole bunch of tens of millions of individuals for many years. The World Well being Group attributes childhood vaccines avoiding as much as 5 million deaths a yr.
Trump throughout his first time period launched Operation Warp Velocity, an effort to speed up the manufacturing and distribution of a vaccine to fight COVID-19. The ensuing vaccines are broadly credited, together with by Trump himself, with saving lives.
Kennedy has additionally labored to bolster help amongst younger moms particularly on a message to rid america of unhealthy substances in meals, promising to mannequin laws on these imposed in Europe. Her claims that America's weight problems epidemic, in addition to the rise in continual ailments like diabetes, are the results of unhealthy, processed meals, have resonated on social media amongst health gurus and mother influencers. equally.
It's not but clear how that can sq. with Trump's historical past of deregulating large industries, together with meals. Trump has pushed for fewer inspections within the meat trade, for instance.
Kennedy's stance on vaccines raises questions on his capacity to be confirmed, even in a GOP-controlled Senate. He has additionally mentioned he would make a controversial advice to take away fluoride from consuming water, regardless that fluoride ranges are mandated by state and native governments. The addition of the mineral has been cited as bettering dental well being and is taken into account protected at low ranges.
Incoming Senate Majority Chief John Thune declined to touch upon Trump's selection of Kennedy or every other potential candidate. “I'm not going to go any judgment on any of those folks at the moment,” he mentioned.
However Republican Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) praised the HHS selection, posting on X: “Unhealthy day for Massive Pharma! @RobertKennedyJr.”
A number of Democrats rapidly condemned the choice.
Washington Sen. Patty Murray, the No. three Democrat, mentioned Kennedy's affirmation can be “nothing in need of a catastrophe for the well being of tens of millions of households.”
However not all Democrats recoiled from the information. Colorado Gov. Jared Polis mentioned he was “excited” to have Kennedy lead HHS. Polis mentioned he desires to see Kennedy tackle “Massive Pharma” and hopes he’ll “lean towards private selection” on vaccines.
That concept worries former New York Public Well being Commissioner Dr. Ashwin Vasan, who mentioned that if folks select to not get vaccinated, lethal viruses might unfold wildly. He factors out a upturn To date this yr, there have been 16 measles outbreaks, in comparison with 4 final yr. “That can proceed if now we have somebody on the prime of our well being system saying, 'I'm not so positive concerning the science right here,'” Vasan mentioned.
The FDA might endure one of many largest shakeups, with Kennedy promising extra laws, measures that will counteract steps taken by earlier Republican administrations. He has vowed to crack down on meals dyes and preservatives. And he has advised drug firms be banned from promoting on tv, a multibillion-dollar enterprise that accounts for many of the trade's advertising . He additionally proposed eliminating the charges that drug makers pay the FDA to overview their merchandise.
He desires to weaken FDA laws on quite a lot of unfounded therapies, together with psychedelics and stem cells, in addition to discredited COVID-era medication like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine.
Kennedy may even deal with ending the “revolving door” of workers who beforehand labored for pharmaceutical firms or left authorities service to work in that trade, his former marketing campaign communications director, Del Bigtree, informed the AP final month. .
Final weekend, Kennedy mentioned he wished to put off 600 NIH workers, who oversee vaccine analysis, and change them with 600 new folks. In separate feedback, he has mentioned that in his first week order a break in drug growth and infectious illness analysis, shifting focus to continual ailments.
Kennedy's anti-vaccine nonprofit group, Kids's Well being Protection, at present has a lawsuit pending towards a number of information organizations, together with The Related Press, accusing them of violating antitrust legal guidelines by taking steps to determine misinformation, together with about COVID-19. and COVID-19. 19 vaccines. Kennedy bid farewell to the group when he introduced his candidacy for president, however is listed as one among its attorneys within the lawsuit.
Trump additionally introduced Thursday that he’ll nominate Jay Clayton, who served as chairman of the U.S. Securities and Trade Fee throughout his first time period, to function U.S. Legal professional for the Southern District of New York.
__ Seitz reported from Washington. Related Press writers Zeke Miller, Mary Clare Jalonick and Matthew Perrone in Washington, Mike Stobbe in New York and JoNel Aleccia in Temecula, California contributed to this report.