Trump names RFK Jr., anti-vaccine activist, as U.S. health secretary – National

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump mentioned Thursday he’s nominating anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr to steer the Division of Well being and Human Companies, placing him in control of a large company that oversees the whole lot from drug, vaccine and meals security to medical analysis and the social security internet packages Medicare and Medicaid.

“For too lengthy, Individuals have been crushed by the commercial meals complicated and drug corporations who’ve engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation on the subject of Public Well being,” Trump mentioned in a submit on his Fact Social website saying the appointment. Kennedy, he mentioned, would “Make America Nice and Wholesome Once more!”

Kennedy, a former Democrat who ran as an impartial on this yr’s presidential race, deserted his bid after hanging a deal to provide Trump his endorsement with a promise to have a task in well being coverage within the administration.

He and Trump have since develop into good associates, with Kennedy steadily receiving loud applause at Trump’s rallies.

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A longtime vaccine skeptic, Kennedy is an lawyer 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 laws across the components in meals.

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With the Trump marketing campaign, he labored to shore up assist amongst younger moms particularly, along with his message of creating meals more healthy within the U.S., promising to mannequin laws imposed in Europe. In a nod to Trump’s authentic marketing campaign slogan, he named the trouble “Make America Wholesome Once more.”

It stays unclear how that may sq. with Trump’s historical past of deregulation of huge industries, together with meals. Trump pushed for fewer inspections of the meat business, for instance.

Kennedy’s stance on vaccines has additionally made him a controversial determine amongst Democrats and a few Republicans, elevating query about his capability to get confirmed, even in a GOP-controlled Senate. Kennedy has espoused misinformation across the security of vaccines, together with pushing a very discredited concept that childhood vaccines trigger autism.

He additionally has mentioned he would advocate eradicating fluoride from ingesting water. The addition of the fabric has been cited as resulting in improved dental well being.

HHS has greater than 80,000 workers throughout the nation. It homes the Meals and Drug Administration, the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, the Medicare and Medicaid packages and the Nationwide Institutes of Well being.

Kennedy’s anti-vaccine nonprofit group, Kids’s Well being Protection, at the moment has a lawsuit pending towards plenty 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 depart from the group when he introduced his run for president however is listed as one among its attorneys within the lawsuit.

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