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Donald Trump announced on Thursday that he will nominate one of the most prominent medical conspiracy theorists in the country to lead the Department of Health and Human Services: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
“The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration,” Trump said in a statement on Truth Social, “and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country.”
Trump’s pick for health secretary is not exactly a surprise. After Kennedy suspended his presidential campaign and endorsed Trump, the then-Republican nominee suggested that Kennedy would play a major role in health policy in his second administration. At a campaign event in October, Trump said he would let Kennedy “go wild on health,” including women’s health.
But Kennedy’s deep misunderstanding of health sciences has alarmed experts, and the prospect of him controlling HHS and its agencies has sparked fear among government health employees. He has demonized vaccines; suggested that “Wi-Fi radiation” could be causing autism, food allergies and chronic illnesses; blamed mass shootings on anti-depressants, questioned whether HIV causes AIDS; said chemicals in the water supply have led more minors to identify as transgender; and claimed that Covid is “ethnically targeted” in a way that gives Jewish and Chinese people greater immunity to the disease.
While running for president last year, he told NBC News that he wanted to gut public health agencies and stack them with officials who shared his beliefs.
The health secretary is a powerful Cabinet position that oversees the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health. Kennedy, who would have to be confirmed by the Senate to assume the role, has no significant experience in health policy, though he is the founder of one of the largest anti-vaccine organizations in the country.