U.S. President-elect Donald Trump mentioned Thursday he’s nominating anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr to steer the Department of Health and Human Services, placing him in command of a large company that oversees every thing from drug, vaccine and meals security to medical analysis and the social security internet applications Medicare and Medicaid.
“For too lengthy, People have been crushed by the economic meals advanced and drug corporations who’ve engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation in terms of Public Well being,” Trump mentioned in a submit on his Fact Social web site asserting the appointment. Kennedy, he mentioned, would “Make America Nice and Wholesome Once more!”
Kennedy, a former Democrat who ran as an unbiased on this 12 months’s presidential race, deserted his bid after hanging a deal to offer Trump his endorsement with a promise to have a task in well being coverage within the administration.
He and Trump have since grow to be good buddies, with Kennedy continuously receiving loud applause at Trump’s rallies.
A longtime vaccine skeptic, Kennedy is an legal professional who has constructed a loyal following over a number of a long time of people that admire his lawsuits towards main pesticide and pharmaceutical corporations. He has pushed for tighter rules across the elements in meals.
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With the Trump marketing campaign, he labored to shore up assist amongst younger moms particularly, together with his message of creating meals more healthy within the U.S., promising to mannequin rules imposed in Europe. In a nod to Trump’s unique marketing campaign slogan, he named the hassle “Make America Wholesome Once more.”
It stays unclear how that may sq. with Trump’s historical past of deregulation of massive industries, together with meals. Trump pushed for fewer inspections of the meat trade, for instance.
Kennedy’s stance on vaccines has additionally made him a controversial determine amongst Democrats and a few Republicans, elevating query about his capacity to get confirmed, even in a GOP-controlled Senate. Kennedy has espoused misinformation across the security of vaccines, together with pushing a very discredited idea that childhood vaccines trigger autism.
He additionally has mentioned he would suggest eradicating fluoride from consuming water. The addition of the fabric has been cited as leading to improved dental health.
HHS has greater than 80,000 staff throughout the nation. It homes the Meals and Drug Administration, the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, the Medicare and Medicaid applications and the Nationwide Institutes of Well being.
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine nonprofit group, Kids’s Well being Protection, presently has a lawsuit pending towards a variety of information organizations, amongst them The Related Press, accusing them of violating antitrust legal guidelines by taking motion to determine misinformation, together with about COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccines.
Kennedy took go away from the group when he introduced his run for president however is listed as considered one of its attorneys within the lawsuit.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
