RFK WINS OVER SENATE DOCTORS TO SECURE CONFIRMATION AS TRUMP’S HEALTH SECRETARY
Robert F Kennedy Jr has been confirmed as Donald Trump’s health secretary after winning the support of the doctors in the Senate.
Mr Kennedy, a vaccine sceptic who has pledged to tackle chronic disease, was confirmed by 52 votes to 48 after overcoming resistance from the medical establishment and members of Congress with promises to limit his role in immunisation policy.
In doing so, he won the votes of the four medical physicians in the Senate, all of whom are Republicans.
The only Republican to vote against Mr Kennedy was Mitch McConnell, the Kentucky senator and former GOP leader, who survived polio as a child.
Ahead of the vote, Mr McConnell issued a damning statement in which he accused Mr Kennedy of “trafficking in dangerous conspiracy theories”.
“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,” it read.
“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.”
The senator added that he could not “condone the re-litigation of proven cures”.
The rest of the GOP, however, has embraced Mr Kennedy’s focus on chronic diseases such as obesity, including those who hold medical qualifications.
Senator Roger Marshall, a former obstetrician, said the confirmation of Mr Kennedy “marks a great day” for American children.
Mr Marshall, a co-founder of the Make America Healthy Again (Maha) caucus fronted by Mr Kennedy, added: “With 60 per cent of Americans currently battling chronic diseases, we desperately need a radical shift toward prevention rather than focusing on treatment alone.”
After Mr Kennedy is sworn in this afternoon, the president will sign an executive order to establish a Maha commission, Karoline Leavitt, the White House spokeswoman, said.
The order will direct the new secretary of the Health and Human Services Department “to investigate this chronic crisis plaguing our country,” she said.
Rand Paul, the Kentucky senator and former ophthalmologist, also voted for Mr Kennedy and praised his scepticism of vaccines, which he has suggested can cause autism.
Mr Paul said there is no reason for “one-day-old babies” to receive a vaccination for hepatitis B, despite the fact it can be passed on by mothers.
John Barrasso, the Republican senator for Wyoming, who worked for more than 20 years as an orthopaedic surgeon, said that Mr Kennedy will “bring a fresh set of eyes” to debates surrounding public health.
Louisiana senator Bill Cassidy, a doctor with decades of work in community-based health, had been mooted as a potential swing vote against Mr Kennedy after expressing wariness about the nominee’s vaccine views.
In a nomination hearing last month, he told Mr Kennedy he was afraid that people would die of vaccine-preventable diseases “because of policies or attitudes that you bring to the department”.
Yet after facing intense political pressure – including threats from billionaire Elon Musk’s to endorse primary opponents of Republicans who attempt to block Mr Trump’s nominations – Mr Cassidy said he had received the necessary assurance to tow the party line.
Mr Cassidy, who is up for re-election next year, said he had received commitments from Mr Kennedy that he would not remove government health agency statements that vaccines do not cause autism.
Mr Kennedy also committed to work within the existing vaccine approval and safety monitoring systems and to honour decisions by the centre for disease control’s outside panel of experts on immunisation practice.
Mr Kennedy, 71, is an environmental lawyer and former Democrat who has long sown doubts about established health policy, including on vaccines, raw milk and fluoride in drinking water.
He will now run an HHS department that directs more than $3 trillion in healthcare spending, and will also oversee the medicare and medicaid programmes that provide health insurance for over 140 million Americans.
In addition to pledging to work to end chronic disease, Mr Kennedy has said he wants to break any ties between employees at the US drugs regulator and industry and advise US water systems to remove fluoride.
As part of his drive to tackle long-term health problems, he has called for banning hundreds of food additives and chemicals and for getting ultra-processed foods out of school lunches.
His path to confirmation was fraught with opposition, including from Caroline Kennedy, his own cousin, who accused him of being a “predator” and placing mice in a blender to feed his pet hawks.
Under Mr Trump’s plans to shrink the size of the federal government, Mr Kennedy has said he wants to lay off as many employees at the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institute of Health as possible.
2025-02-13T20:55:20Z
