Kathleen Sebelius, a former Democratic governor who served as Well being and Human Companies (HHS) secretary through the Obama administration, mentioned that having anti-vaccine activist and environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. main HHS is “very frightening” for Individuals.
“To have someone coming into a scientific agency that is a vaccine skeptic and may well undo decades of public health work, I think, is terrifying for the American public who rely on HHS from cradle to grave for resources, for information, for public health, for oversight of our food and medicines,” Sebelius instructed CNN’s John Berman.
“That, to me, is a very frightening aspect for the American public,” she added.
Sebelius’s feedback come as Trump has confronted some backlash after tapping Kennedy, who brings a deep skepticism of pharmaceutical corporations and the federal businesses overseeing them, to move HHS.
The president-elect’s alternative sparked concern amongst Democrats and public well being specialists who fear Kennedy might meddle with key authorities businesses, amplify vaccine hesitancy and direct company funding to favor his most well-liked views.
Kennedy will should be confirmed by the Senate to take his function. The GOP is anticipated to carry a 53-47 majority.
When requested if Kennedy is “qualified for this job,” Sebelius was fast to voice her doubts.
“I’d say no. He has no organizational management experience and HHS is one of the largest domestic organizations,” Sebelius mentioned, including that the division has a number of 1000’s of staff and an virtually $2 trillion greenback finances. HHS has greater than 83,000 staff, in line with the U.S. Equal Employment Alternative Fee, and its web site mentioned that it has a finances of $1.7 trillion in obligatory proposed finances authority for fiscal yr 2024.
On the marketing campaign path, Trump had mentioned he would let Kennedy “go wild” in points associated to meals, drugs and well being in a second Trump administration, a line that his son Donald Trump Jr. additionally enthusiastically repeated to conservative media after his father’s victory.
Kennedy, who ran towards Trump through the primaries after which later grew to become a surrogate for the president-elect’s marketing campaign, has mentioned federal well being regulators are “sock puppets” held captive by trade particular pursuits. Kennedy has promised to purge whole departments on the Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) to get rid of corruption.
“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,” Kennedy had written in a submit on the social platform X in October.
