President-elect Donald Trump ambushed everyone when he announced his choice of Robert F. Kennedy, as his pick for Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. This bold choice has already set the stage for a confirmation process that will test the loyalty of Senate Republicans and how they will try to demote public health policies in the United States.
A Shocking Announcement
Confirming earlier reports that he would indeed take the job, Trump says he is ‘thrilled’ to accept Kennedy’s appointment to head HHS, one of the most important jobs in shaping the nation’s healthcare policies. In a statement posted on X, Trump said:
As it has been posted, “The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration, 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 wrote. “Mr. Kennedy will make these Agencies once again embrace the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and lighthouses for Transparency, to finally end this Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!”.
Kennedy, who has been in Palm Beach, Florida, since the election, accepted the offer the same day.
From Skepticism to Confirmation
The decision to promote Kennedy is particularly notable given that only days before the election, Trump’s transition co-chairman, Howard Lutnick, said there was no chance that Kennedy would have an administration job. Asked if he would be named to HHS, Lutnick was bluntly unambiguous: “No, of course not.”.
This answer was claimed to create a schism in the inner framework, as Trump later clarified that he would be the one to be at the head of all his cabinet appointments. Initially, skeptical, Kennedy is now confirmed to head the department-the biggest shift so far in Trump’s views on public health.
Kennedy’s Questionable Past
He has gained popularity in public by making claims against the safety and efficacy of vaccines. His medical community views have been criticized quite a number of times. However, they resonate with a big chunk of the American public. Kennedy’s presidential campaign, as he launched last year, was focused on reversing the “chronic disease epidemic” and other alternative healthcare policies.
During the campaign, Kennedy promised radical reforms in food safety law, environmental policies, and vaccine research. He also promised a complete overhaul of public funding for health research and promised an all-encompassing vision for medicine. His policies made quite a ruckus, and many vocal critics went so far as to caution that his ideology was likely to “unseat” accepted scientific and medical practices.
An Unlikely Partnership
Near the close of his White House bid, Kennedy met several times with Trump, discussing whether he might secure an endorsement from him in return for some as-yet unspecified place in the new administration. He campaigned on, and then laid down his campaign less than a month prior to election time, to endorse Trump; he began formally endorsing him in August.
This was after previous hints that Trump was going to give Kennedy a significant role in his administration, promising that Kennedy would have significant influence over public health issues. In October, during one of his rallies in New York City, Trump said, “I’m going to let him go wild on health, go wild on the food, and go wild on medicines.”.
With Kennedy having been confirmed as a recess appointment, the President-elect doesn’t seem to be changing his mind on having placed Kennedy in a position of authority to reform the country’s health policies.
Kennedy’s Blue Print for overhauling Public Health
Since Election Day, Kennedy has articulated a vision for public health in the United States. Among immediate steps toward furthering vaccine safety and efficacy, he has reassured the public that no one will lose vaccines. He has also promised to recommend to remove fluoride from public water supplies, another proposal that fits into another controversy already built.
In an MSNBC interview, he called for a radical restructuring of personnel at health agencies. He said he would make ‘significant changes’ at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, slicing staff in the nutrition department by ‘a third or a half.’ He further stated that about 600 officials at the National Institutes of Health should be replaced with people of his choice.
Kennedy said his focus would be on cutting corruption and conflicts of interest within regulatory agencies, returning them to their “gold standard” of scientific research and evidence-based medicine, and addressing the nation’s chronic disease crisis. He outlined the following three priorities for his role: “President Trump has given me three instructions,” Kennedy said. “He wants the corruption and the conflicts out of the regulatory agencies. He wants to return the agencies to the gold standard, empirically-based, evidence-based, science and medicine that they were once famous for. And he wants to end the chronic disease epidemic with measurable impacts on a diminishment of chronic disease within two years.”
A Critical Test for Senate Republicans Appointing Kennedy as HHS
Secretary is one of the most headlining actions the President-elect has made so far. As a strong voice in the anti-vaccine movement, his appointment is certain to land him in a Senate confirmation fight of historic proportions. If confirmed, it may be the most significant break with traditional public health behavior in at least a century and will have significant, long-term policy implications for healthcare in America.
(Includes inputs from online sources)
ALSO READ: U.S. Pushes For New Diplomatic Proposal To Address Hezbollah-Israel Conflict
