The US Senate on Thursday voted 52-48 to confirm Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, as the next secretary of the Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), granting extraordinary power and influence over the American health system to a fierce critic of vaccines, drug makers, and the medical establishment itself.
With the exception of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), a polio survivor, all Republican senators supported Kennedy, including Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD, a gastroenterologist.
Kennedy, an attorney whose namesake father was assassinated during his 1968 presidential bid, will oversee a massive agency with more than 90,000 employees and a proposed $3 trillion-plus budget for 2024-2025.
Among other roles, HHS runs the Medicare and Medicaid programs, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Indian Health Service, and National Institutes of Health (NIH).
"Individuals, parents, and families have a right to push for a healthier nation and demand the best possible scientific guidance on preventing and treating illness. But a record of trafficking in dangerous conspiracy theories and eroding trust in public health institutions does not entitle Mr. Kennedy to lead these important efforts," McConnell said in a statement explaining his no vote.
Questioning Vaccines
Kennedy's appointment comes after contentious Senate confirmation hearings and vociferous opposition from many physicians and public health advocates.
During his hearings, Kennedy emphasized his desire to switch NIH's focus to chronic disease and away from infectious disease to respond to high US death rates from chronic disease.
"There's no vaccine that is, you know, safe and effective," he said in a 2023 podcast highlighted by The Wall Street Journal.
Kennedy has repeatedly linked vaccines to autism. As the Post noted, there is "overwhelming scientific evidence supporting the use of vaccination to protect people from deadly infectious diseases and refuting any ties to autism." In previous Senate committee hearings, Kennedy voiced more support for vaccines.
However, when pressed at a Senate committee hearing in January, Kennedy refused to retract his belief that autism is connected to human papillomavirus and hepatitis B vaccines. He also would not agree that the COVID-19 vaccine saved millions of lives.
Cassidy said Kennedy promised him he would maintain recommendations from the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices without changes. Cassidy said the nominee also pledged to not remove statements on the CDC website that debunk claims of links between vaccines and autism.
Kennedy did tell senators, "I support the measles vaccine. I support the polio vaccine. I will do nothing as HHS secretary that makes it difficult or discourages" those seeking vaccinations, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Speaking in support of Kennedy, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) said, "Our country spends more than $4.5 trillion annually on healthcare. Growing healthcare costs don't just strain Americans' pocketbooks -- healthcare is also a major driver of widening budget deficits and the federal government's unsustainable fiscal outlook."
Grassley said he believed Kennedy's focus on chronic disease would be beneficial.
'Science-Driven and Evidence-Driven'
Although he told senators that he is "science-driven and evidence-driven," Kennedy has made many other unusual claims about medicine that critics say aren't backed up by science.
He also highlighted the number of US children -- about 500 -- who died from measles the year before the vaccine became available. (Almost 37,000 children die in the United States each year today.) And he compared that to Americans' high burden of chronic disease.
"FDA's war on public health is about to end," he wrote. "This includes its aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals, and anything else that advances human health and can't be patented by Pharma. If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags."
Support, Opposition, and Silence
More than 20,000 doctors signed a petition opposing Kennedy's nomination. Other groups of doctors signed a letter supporting his nomination.
The American Public Health Association and National Nurses United opposed Kennedy's nomination. However, the American Medical Association, American Hospitals Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, and Infectious Disease Society of America chose to remain silent, The Boston Globe reported.