A number one public well being group is sounding the alarm over Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Trump’s decide to steer the Division of Well being and Human Providers.
The American Public Well being Affiliation (APHA) mentioned Kennedy “fails on all fronts” as a candidate to steer the nation’s high well being company.
“We urge President-elect Trump to select a qualified health leader that is properly trained and has the management skills to be the nation’s top health official,” mentioned APHA president Georges Benjamin.
Kennedy is an environmental lawyer with no formal well being or medical diploma, or expertise working a authorities company or giant enterprise. He’s a longtime vaccine skeptic who has proven deep mistrust of pharmaceutical firms and the companies overseeing them.
If confirmed, he’ll take over a sprawling company with a finances of practically $2 trillion. It has 13 subagencies which might be chargeable for administering federal well being applications together with Medicare, Medicaid and the Inexpensive Care Act.
The APHA has a historical past of working intently with high federal officers in each Republican and Democrat administrations, together with members of the primary Trump administration.
“Unfortunately, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has demonstrated a consistent lack of willingness to listen, learn and act in the best interest of the health of the American people,” Benjamin mentioned.
He famous that exterior of expertise, Kennedy’s views on vaccines alone ought to disqualify him as a possible company chief.
Kennedy based a distinguished anti-vaccine group, has acknowledged that “there’s no vaccine that is safe and effective” and has touted misinformation claiming that vaccines trigger autism.
Vaccines have been round for hundreds of years, and fashionable vaccines have for many years protected tons of of thousands and thousands of People in opposition to illnesses like measles, rubella, polio, meningitis and even the flu. Public well being companies such because the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) have reams of outcomes from scientific research and real-world information exhibiting vaccines are protected and efficient.
“The American people deserve better than Mr. Kennedy. We need an HHS secretary under the Trump administration who will listen to science, not discredit it,” Benjamin mentioned.
Public well being specialists have mentioned there are institutional guardrails in place at federal companies that may forestall among the most radical adjustments from occurring, comparable to having vaccines pulled off the market.
Even when Kennedy himself isn’t actively concerned in making vaccine coverage, his presence as a key insider can form public notion. And he would have a bully pulpit to proceed questioning vaccine science.
