The vaccine skeptic will now lead the US’s vast healthcare system after gaining backing of key Republican senators. Robert F Kennedy Jr will take control of America’s vast healthcare apparatus, as the Senate voted on Thursday to confirm the controversial anti-vaccine campaigner’s nomination as health secretary. The Senate voted 52 to 48, with all Republicans other than Kentucky senator Mitch McConnell backing the former environmental lawyer who abandoned his independent presidential bid last year to endorse Donald Trump.
The vote installs one of America’s most prominent vaccine skeptics to run its federal health infrastructure, granting oversight of the very agencies – including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration – that he has spent years battling through lawsuits and public campaigns. Kennedy will wield sweeping authority over the nation’s $2tn health system, including drug approvals to Medicare.
Sign up to This Week in Trumpland. A deep dive into the policies, controversies and oddities surrounding the Trump administration. after newsletter promotion. His path to the top crystallized after securing backing from Republican senator Bill Cassidy, a physician who extracted what he called “unprecedented” commitments for collaboration from both Kennedy and the Trump campaign. Key moderate Senate Republicans Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski also fell in line this week.
Democrats – the party historically aligned with the Kennedy family legacy – have, on the other hand, totally disavowed RFK Jr as a nominee based on his lack of subject area expertise. “Robert F Kennedy Jr is not remotely qualified to become the next secretary of health and human services,” the Senate minority leader, Chuck Schumer, said on the floor on Wednesday. “In fact, I might go further. Robert F Kennedy Jr might be one of the least qualified people the president could have chosen for the job.”.
