The Senate on Thursday confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as President Trump's health secretary, per the AP. Republicans fell in line behind Trump despite hesitancy over Kennedy's views on vaccines, voting 52-48 to elevate the scion of one of America's most storied political—and Democratic—families to secretary of the Health and Human Services Department. Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell, who had polio as a child, was the only "no" vote among Republicans, mirroring his stands against Trump's picks for the Pentagon chief and director of national intelligence. All Democrats opposed Kennedy.
The GOP has largely embraced Kennedy's vision to "Make America Healthy Again" by directing the public health agencies to focus on chronic diseases such as obesity. Kennedy, 71, whose name and family tragedies have put him in the national spotlight since he was a child, has earned a formidable following with his populist and sometimes extreme views on food, chemicals, and vaccines. His audience only grew during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Kennedy devoted much of his time to a nonprofit that sued vaccine makers and harnessed social media campaigns to erode trust in vaccines, as well as in the government agencies that promote them.
Last week, GOP Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina said he hoped Kennedy "goes wild" in reining in health care costs and improving Americans' health. But before agreeing to support Kennedy, fellow Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana—a doctor who leads the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee—required assurances that Kennedy wouldn't make changes to existing vaccine recommendations. During Senate hearings, Democrats tried to prod Kennedy to deny a long-discredited theory that vaccines cause autism. Some lawmakers also raised alarms about Kennedy financially benefiting from changing vaccine guidelines or weakening federal lawsuit protections against vaccine makers.
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