The Republican-controlled U.S. Senate has given its stamp of approval to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, despite his noted vaccine skepticism and other conspiracy-based beliefs on myriad health subjects.
All 47 Democratic senators voted against Kennedy’s confirmation. Nearly all Republicans — save for Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky) — voted in favor of Kennedy leading HHS.
McConnell, who survived polio as a child, blasted the confirmation of a known anti-vaccine advocate.
“In my lifetime, I’ve watched vaccines save millions of lives from devastating diseases across America and around the world. I will not condone the relitigation of proven cures, and neither will millions of Americans who credit their survival and quality of life to scientific miracles,” McConnell said, adding that Kennedy’s “record of trafficking in dangerous conspiracy theories and eroding trust in public health institutions” disqualified him from running the department.
In response to McConnell’s explanation of his vote, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt derided McConnell, claiming that all of Trump’s nominees were qualified because they have “worked in the respective fields of the agencies they’ll be leading.” Kennedy, however, does not have a medical license or degree, and his background lies primarily in peddling health care disinformation. Leavitt also claimed that “the American people directed” Trump to appoint Kennedy — another dubious point, given that Kennedy has a net-negative favorability rating in many polls.
Other Democratic senators also lambasted Kennedy’s confirmation.
“Every day, federal health officials decide whether to approve new medications … initiate a recall over a contaminated food … investigate new therapies for cancer clinical trials … alert doctors about an emerging disease outbreak,” said Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Illinois). “In any of these tasks … Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. would find himself unqualified, unfit, and dangerous to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.”
Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nevada) also denounced the vote, stating:
At a time when Republicans are looking to cut Medicaid to pay for their tax cuts for billionaires, I have no confidence Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is going to stand up to protect this critical program.
Rosen noted that Kennedy’s “dangerous conspiracy theories and reckless statements are also a danger to public health, and make him unfit to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.”
As HHS secretary, Kennedy will oversee the management of several federal programs and agencies, including Medicaid, Medicare, the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the implementation of the Affordable Care Act.
Kennedy is notorious for peddling countless lies regarding the efficacy and safety of vaccinations over several years. During his confirmation hearings, Kennedy downplayed his anti-vaccine sentiments, prompting Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) to ask if he agreed with the evidence showing that vaccines do not cause autism.
“If you show me those studies, I will absolutely [agree],” Kennedy responded.
Sanders chided Kennedy for that answer.
“That is a very troubling response because the studies are there. Your job is to have looked at those studies as an applicant for this job,” Sanders said.
Conspiracy theories linking an increase in autism rates to vaccinations have long been debunked. Such theories gained momentum in 1998, when a small study was published suggesting that they were connected. Upon further review, however, that study was retracted due to falsified information, resulting in the author of the study losing their medical license.
Kennedy’s campaign against vaccines has had fatal consequences. In 2019, he traveled to the island nation of Samoa, where he fueled skepticism about the safety of measles vaccines. After his departure, vaccine rates there dropped, and more than 80 people, mostly children, died from a subsequent outbreak. Kennedy has denied any responsibility for that event.
In addition to his vaccine skepticism, Kennedy has pushed other false claims relating to health care, including:
- The errant and racist belief that Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people were less harmed by COVID-19 than white and Black people;
- Transphobic claims that elements in the nation’s drinking water were causing “gender confusion;”
- And opposition to small levels of fluoride in the water, wrongly stating that it was unsafe despite decades of evidence proving otherwise.
During his confirmation hearings, Kennedy also errantly claimed that most Americans were “not happy” with Medicaid, a program meant to help people with lower incomes afford health care. In fact, polling shows that more than three-quarters of Americans have a favorable view of the program.
Around the time that Kennedy was being considered for the HHS role, former Surgeon General Jerome Adams, who served under Trump in his first presidential term, said it would be a mistake to appoint him.
“If RFK has a significant influence on the next administration, that could further erode people’s willingness to get up to date with recommended vaccines,” Adams said. “I am worried about the impact that could have on our nation’s health, on our nation’s economy, on our global security.”
In a post on X, the account for the Committee to Protect Health Care, a nonprofit group that aims to “expand access to quality, affordable health care,” lamented Kennedy’s confirmation.
“RFK Jr. was just confirmed as head of HHS — despite 22K+ physicians urging the Senate to reject him,” the organization wrote, referencing an open letter they published calling for lawmakers to reject his appointment.
“The health and well-being of 336 million Americans depend on leadership at HHS that prioritizes science, evidence-based medicine, and strengthening the integrity of our public health system,” that letter stated. “RFK Jr. is not only unqualified to lead this essential agency — he is actively dangerous.”
We’re not backing down in the face of Trump’s threats.
As Donald Trump is inaugurated a second time, independent media organizations are faced with urgent mandates: Tell the truth more loudly than ever before. Do that work even as our standard modes of distribution (such as social media platforms) are being manipulated and curtailed by forces of fascist repression and ruthless capitalism. Do that work even as journalism and journalists face targeted attacks, including from the government itself. And do that work in community, never forgetting that we’re not shouting into a faceless void – we’re reaching out to real people amid a life-threatening political climate.
Our task is formidable, and it requires us to ground ourselves in our principles, remind ourselves of our utility, dig in and commit.
As a dizzying number of corporate news organizations – either through need or greed – rush to implement new ways to further monetize their content, and others acquiesce to Trump’s wishes, now is a time for movement media-makers to double down on community-first models.
At Truthout, we are reaffirming our commitments on this front: We won’t run ads or have a paywall because we believe that everyone should have access to information, and that access should exist without barriers and free of distractions from craven corporate interests. We recognize the implications for democracy when information-seekers click a link only to find the article trapped behind a paywall or buried on a page with dozens of invasive ads. The laws of capitalism dictate an unending increase in monetization, and much of the media simply follows those laws. Truthout and many of our peers are dedicating ourselves to following other paths – a commitment which feels vital in a moment when corporations are evermore overtly embedded in government.
Over 80 percent of Truthout‘s funding comes from small individual donations from our community of readers, and the remaining 20 percent comes from a handful of social justice-oriented foundations. Over a third of our total budget is supported by recurring monthly donors, many of whom give because they want to help us keep Truthout barrier-free for everyone.
You can help by giving today. Whether you can make a small monthly donation or a larger gift, Truthout only works with your support.