Robert F. Kennedy Jr., one of many nation’s most publicly acknowledged vaccine skeptics, is anticipated to face sharp questions Wednesday when he goes earlier than a Senate panel for the primary time as President Donald Trump’s decide to turn into well being secretary.
A longtime environmental lawyer with no expertise working in public well being administration or medication, Kennedy is understood for his work in questioning the security and efficacy of vaccines, together with encouraging mother and father to not adhere to vaccination suggestions and serving to to sue a vaccine producer for what he alleged was advertising fraud.
If confirmed, Kennedy could be accountable for overseeing an unlimited federal company that manages the well being care of some 170 million Individuals, regulates entry to medication and vaccines and tracks pressing outbreaks of illnesses and foodborne diseases.
In response to two folks conversant in the matter, Vice President JD Vance has been lobbying senators behind closed doorways to help Kennedy. A spokesperson for Vance didn’t reply to a request for remark.
“Vance is working the telephones to ensure Bobby will get over the road,” one individual stated.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be secretary of Well being and Human Providers, speaks throughout a gathering on the Capitol in Washington, Jan. 9, 2025.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
In non-public conferences with senators, Kennedy has been telling senators that he is not “anti-vaccine,” however relatively that he desires extra research, in accordance with two folks conversant in the discussions. That message seems to be working with a number of Republicans who say they’re glad along with his strategy thus far.
“I do not agree with all the things that he says however we definitely each assume that there are alternatives in vitamin and to lower the toxins that children are uncovered to,” stated Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan.
Kennedy can solely afford to lose three Republican votes on the Senate flooring and nonetheless get confirmed. Sen. Mitch McConnell, a polio survivor, has panned Kennedy’s place on vaccines. Different Republicans have stated they need Kennedy — a Democrat earlier than aligning with Trump — to make clear his place on abortion rights.
Up to now, no Democrats have pledged to again him with Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., calling her non-public assembly with Kennedy “by far the strangest” assembly she’s had with a possible cupboard secretary.
“I used to be appalled at his solutions and his lack of information and what he was pushing on the American folks,” she stated. “We’d like someone accountable for this company that’s going to guarantee that our youngsters and grandkids … have the proper well being care info not misinformation.”
Kennedy has been getting ready for this week’s hearings by holding what insiders name “homicide board classes”– intense rounds of question-and-answer led by a gaggle of advisors to arrange Kennedy for essentially the most tough questions he would possibly face within the listening to rooms.
Lawyer Ken Nahagian, who escorted the nominee via the Senate hallways for conferences in latest weeks, led the classes, in accordance with two folks with data of his involvement.
Kennedy’s testimony comes as a scathing letter from his cousin and former U.S. ambassador, Caroline Kennedy, landed within the inboxes of senators calling him a “predator” who “preys on the desperation of fogeys of sick youngsters” and is “hooked on consideration and energy.” Caroline Kennedy was the U.S. ambassador to Japan and later Australia in the course of the Obama and Biden administrations.
“The American well being care system, for all its flaws, is the envy of the world,” Caroline Kennedy wrote. “Its medical doctors and nurses, researchers, scientists, and caregivers are essentially the most devoted folks I do know … They deserve higher than Bobby Kennedy – and so do the remainder of us. I urge the Senate to reject his nomination.”
Outdoors teams essential of Kennedy stated they had been working to make sure senators understood the dangers concerned.
“RFK Jr. is thus far out of the bounds of any type of nomination for a put up like this in my lifetime that there is not any query you can ask or no reply he may give that will make him certified for this, or not harmful within the put up,” stated Gregg Gonsalves, affiliate professor of epidemiology at Yale College of Public Well being.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be Secretary of Well being and Human Providers walks to a gathering with Sen. Bernie Sander within the Dirksen Senate Workplace Constructing on Jan. 8, 2025, in Washington.
Kevin Dietsch/Getty Photographs
Gonsalves has been a part of a letter-writing and cellphone marketing campaign producing over 3,500 particular person letters to senators from public well being professionals, healthcare employees, community-based suppliers and scientists, asking the senators to reject Kennedy’s nomination.
Kennedy’s listening to comes at a time when a lot of the general public has grown skeptical of the federal government, public well being and the media, whereas gravitating towards on-line influencers.
The decline in public belief of well being businesses particularly started in the course of the COVID pandemic. Now, Individuals are largely cut up on saying whether or not they belief the Meals and Drug Administration, in accordance with a KFF ballot launched this week.
On the identical time, 80% of Republicans say they belief Trump and Kennedy as they’d their very own medical doctors, the ballot discovered.
ABC Information’ Allie Pecorin and Mariam Khan contributed to this report.
