Many public health experts said their fears were carried out on Thursday when Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Confirmed as secretary to health and social services.
Kennedy, who has training in environmental law, is the founder of a PROBINENT anti-vaccinal activists group This has bought numerous proceedings against federal health agencies. He also wrote several books questioning the safety and effectiveness of routine vaccinations.
A single republican member of the Senate controlled by the GOP, Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, voted alongside the Democrats by unanimously opposing the confirmation of Kennedy. In a press release, McConnell, a survivor of Polio, underlined the “trafficking file for trafficking in dangerous conspiracy and eroding confidence in public health institutions”.
During the hearings of the Senate last month, Kennedy said that his priority as secretary of the HHS would be reverse the increase in the rates of chronic diseases In the United States, such as diabetes, cancer, asthma and obesity.
Public health experts declared that they agreed with this objective, but that Kennedy’s head at the head of the largest and powerful health agency in the country do more harm than good.
The HHS secretary oversees an annual budget of $ 1.7 Billion of dollars and 13 agencies, including the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Food and Drug Administration.
Experts feared that Kennedy would name the skeptics of vaccines to key roles within these agencies, establishes standards impossible to achieve for vaccine approvals and refuse to continue to store H5N1 vaccines which may be necessary in the event of a pandemic Bird flu.
Kennedy also expressed his interest in Move research on infectious diseases Like Covid and measles for the next eight years, which, according to experts, could prevent scientists from being prepared for future pandemics.
“It is a sad day for American children and for the health of our nation, when a denial of science and anti-vaccine activist is chosen to direct the HHS,” said Dr. Paul Offit, Director of the Vaccine Education Center from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
A Kennedy representative did not respond to a request for comments. HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comments. The defense of children’s health, the anti-vaccine group Kennedy founded, applauded its confirmation on Thursday.
“Bobby deserves this honor very well, and coronary disease is convinced that he will make great progress towards the objectives he has set for HHS: radical transparency, star science and strengthens from America again in good health ”, Mary Holland, CEO of the group, said in a press release.
Kennedy faced a meticulous examination of Democratic senators during his confirmation hearings last month for previous declarations connecting infant autism vaccines, Referring to Lyme disease as a military weapon And say that HPV vaccines increase the risk of cervical cancer – which are not supported by science.
Before audiences, hundreds of scientists and health professionals published a public letter oppose the appointment of Kennedy.
“His untreated marginal beliefs could considerably undermine public health practices across the country and the whole world,” they wrote.
After questioning Kennedy about his anti-vaccine positions during an audience, Senator Bill Cassidy, R-La., Said that he was “struggling” on the way of voting. But Cassidy, a doctor, finally voted to confirm Kennedy last week after which He described as “very intense conversations” During the weekend.
Several public health experts said their concerns were not peaceful by Kennedy’s comments during the hearings, even after declaring that he would support the vaccination calendar recommended by the CDC.
“No matter what he could say during his confirmation audiences, I am much more comfortable looking at his history of his entire career as a anti-vaccine defender, and that’s what I imagine That he will do as secretary of the HHS, “said Andrew Kelly, associate professor of public health at California State University, East Bay.
Kelly said he had become particularly concerned about confirmation after the Trump administration Temporary frozen federal financing and instituted Layers were swept away federal health agencies.
“The idea of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of the HHS is in fact more worrying or terrifying than it was even three weeks ago, in particular because the administration in the three short weeks was at ease to violate the Constitution, “said Kelly.
He feared that Kennedy would be authorized to retain money from schools which have vaccination requirements or which could appoint anti-vaccine defenders to the CDC advisory committee on vaccination practices.
Dr. Syra Madad, a member of the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs of the Harvard Kennedy School, said that in previous administrations, career scientists in federal agencies were a safeguard against political influence.
“In the past two weeks in America, it seems that we live in a twilight area, and I no longer understand if we have these railing in place or in their efficiency,” said Madad.
Even with the constitutional limits of his authority as secretary of HHS, Kennedy could still encourage the skepticism of vaccines under his new platform, said Matt Motta, assistant professor of law and health policy at the school of public health at the University of Boston.
“The director of HHS is one of the most visible faces of public health in America,” said Motta. “Having someone who is skeptical about dominant science in so many important ways sends a signal that it is positions that are general public, which are acceptable.”
However, Motta highlighted some “money links in the dark cloud that drag on public health at the moment” – among them, the accent put by Kennedy on research on chronic diseases and the desire to challenge the influence of companies on food and drug industries.
Other experts said that it was difficult to bring all optimism after the vote on Thursday.
“Its placement at the top of our wider health system simply encourages more disinformation, more disinformation, more vaccination skepticism, more anti-vacuum advocacy, and does so much damage that I can’t even see a silver lining” said Kelly, the professor partner, said.