Cargreen

When Robert F Kennedy Jr. ran as an independent candidate in this year’s US elections, he received a series of bizarre headlines.

“RFK Jr says doctors found a dead worm in his brain,” he shouted The New York Times.

RFK Jr Admits to Dumping a Dead Bear in Central Park said NPR.

“Feds Open Investigation into RFK Jr for Alleged Decapitation of a Dead Whale,” reported Fox News.

The 70-year-old was seen as a potential spoiler in a rematch between Joe Biden and Donald Trump.

But by the time Kamala Harris replaced the president on the Democratic ticket, his campaign had floundered and money was running out.

However, opinion polls suggested he could still pull votes away from Trump, in what was then expected to be a very close battle.

And despite previously describing RFK Jr as the “most radical left-wing candidate in the race,” the now president-elect sought – and received – his support.

That support is now rewarded with the promise of a big new job; Trump has nominated RFK Jr as his secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).

It’s a sprawling federal agency charged with overseeing everything from vaccines to Medicare to food safety.

So what exactly does RFK Jr mean when he promises to “Make America Healthy Again”?

And why are some public health experts so concerned?

A ‘dangerous’ record on vaccines

RFK Jr is part of one of America’s most famous political dynasties.

He is named after his father, former US Attorney General Robert F Kennedy, and is the nephew of former President John F Kennedy.

He made his own mark as an environmental lawyer, focusing on issues such as water pollution.

But it is his vaccine activism that is generating the most attention as he is considered for a role in Trump’s second term.

RFK Jr has promoted debunked claims, including that childhood vaccines cause autism.

He is also accused of stoking vaccine skepticism in Samoa ahead of the deadly measles outbreak that killed 83 people in 2019.

Vaccination rates had fallen after two babies died last year due to incorrectly mixed and administered mumps, measles and rubella (MMR) injections.

RFK Jr visited the Pacific country several months before the outbreak and later wrote that the trip was organized by a local vaccine critic.

He has since denied any responsibility for the measles outbreak in Samoa. telling a documentary that he “never told anyone not to vaccinate”.

“I didn’t go there for any reason,” he said.

But Helen Petousis-Harris, a New Zealand-based vaccinologist who has been trying to rebuild confidence in Samoa’s vaccination program, said RFK Jr. an “already fragile trust” weakened.

“A person who has RFK Jr.’s status, I think, further reinforces what those local anti-vaccine advocates had been saying,” she said.

‘And there’s a high price to pay for that, right? I mean, these were children’s lives.’

RFK Jr has rejected claims that he is an “anti-vaxxer” and insisted shortly after Trump’s election victory that if vaccines “worked for someone, I won’t take them away”.

“I’m going to make sure that there are scientific studies of safety and efficacy available, and that people can individually assess whether that product is going to be good for them,” he told NBC News.

Lawrence Gostin, a professor of global health law at Georgetown University, points out that control over vaccines in the US rests with the states, not the federal government.

But he argues that RFK Jr could try to change which vaccines are free to access under health insurance. And he believes he will “do everything in his power to stoke distrust in them.”

“I have never seen a bleaker day for public health since the election,” he said.

“I just call this a poke in the eye of science.”

RFK Jr.’s position over vaccines is partly at the root of a rift in his famous family. His cousin and outgoing US ambassador to Australia, Caroline Kennedy, recently described his views as ‘dangerous’.

“I grew up with him so I’ve known all this for a long time and others are just now getting to know him,” she told the National Press Club in Canberra.

A review of American eating habits

In addition to what he believes will be a crackdown on big pharmaceutical companies, RFK Jr. promises to overhaul America’s food system.

He called for new restrictions on food additives and colorings, highlighting the differences between the artificial colorings used in American-made breakfast cereals and used in the same products produced in Canada.

“It’s literally poisoning our children,” he told Fox News in September.

He has also pledged to remove ultra-processed foods from school meals as part of an effort to end what he describes as the “chronic disease epidemic”.

“President Trump has told me that within two years he wants to see measurable, concrete results in terms of a measurable reduction in chronic diseases among American children.” he told NBC earlier this month.

Some of RFK Jr.’s views on nutrition have found support across a broad political spectrum in the US.

Author Michael Pollan, who has advocated healthier eating for decades, told Politico he agreed with many of RFK Jr.’s criticisms. on the American food system.

“The way we eat is the greatest threat to public health,” he said. But he added that he rejected RFK Jr.’s nomination. not supported.

“I think he is completely unqualified and that is because of his position on vaccines,” he said.

Richard Besser, former acting director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) under Barack Obama, believes there is merit in some of the goals RFK Jr. is pursuing.

But he also does not support his appointment as DHHS secretary.

“One of the common challenges with people who are big spreaders of disinformation is that some of what they spread is good,” said Dr. Besser.

“If we had a secretary who said, ‘Let’s tackle child nutrition,’ that would be great.

“But you want to make sure they come in and say, ‘Let’s bring in the best and brightest on this topic,’ and not bring in ideas that may not be based on science, but may be fear-based or misleading. ” information.”

The ‘MAHA’ movement

RFK Jr. has called for the removal of fluoride from public drinking water, warned about seed oils and criticized what he called the “aggressive crackdown” by federal regulators. unpasteurized milk and psychedelics.

He has gained a large following on social media under the hashtag “Make America Healthy Again” or “MAHA,” a variation on Trump’s famous slogan.

“How it feels to know that RFK Jr is about to take on the food and pharmaceutical industries,” one TikTok user posted alongside the hashtag #crunchymom.

RFK Jr has also recently been linked to controversial Australian personality Pete Evans.

An advocacy group founded by RFK Jr. publishes a children’s cookbook featuring the former celebrity chef previously accused of spreading medical misinformation.

Professor Gostin said there had long been some skepticism toward US public health institutions, but that distrust increased dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I think science and public health may not have had the necessary humility during the pandemic, and that’s part of the problem,” he said.

“But the solution is not to tear down science and evidence because we have no alternative.”

‘Pretty wild ideas’

RFK Jr’s nomination will need to be confirmed by the Senate, and while Republicans will take control of the chamber, that does not guarantee approval.

Trump’s pick for attorney general, Matt Gaetz, recently withdrew his name from consideration after senators demanded to see the details of the sexual misconduct allegations against him.

“The end of the Matt Gaetz nomination could manifest itself in the form of the Senate now being prepared to confirm whoever comes before them,” said Sara Rosenbaum, Emirata professor at the Milken Institute School of Public Health George Washington University.

“Although, interestingly enough, the Senate was more or less able to fend off Gaetz’s nomination before it came to an actual ‘no.’

“So whether this in fact means that they are still rigorous and going through the candidates in a meaningful way, looking at the candidates in a meaningful way, remains to be seen.”

If confirmed, the president-elect jokes that he will “let RFK Jr go for a while.”

“Then I may have to rein him in again,” Trump said in the run-up to the election.

Additional reporting by Jordan Fennell