- Says in remarks he is not ‘anti-vaccine or anti-industry’
- Caroline Kennedy urges Senate to reject cousin’s nomination
“I am neither; I am pro-safety,” Kennedy said in
Before he was nominated to head HHS, Kennedy called Covid shots “a crime against humanity.” His Children’s Health Defense organization linked vaccines to autism and said they’d never properly been tested.
On abortion, Kennedy wrote last May that he trusted women to make their own decisions and that the procedure should be unrestricted until the baby could be viable outside the womb.
“In my advocacy I have often disturbed the status quo by asking uncomfortable questions,” Kennedy said in the prepared testimony. “Well, I won’t apologize for that. We have massive health problems in this country that we must face honestly.”
Now that he’s facing a Senate confirmation, Kennedy is telling senators that he’s pro-vaccine and anti-abortion.
After Republican
Senator
Senator
To be confirmed as secretary of Health and Human Services, Kennedy must appear before the Senate Finance Committee on Jan. 29. He will then meet with the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions the following day. If the Finance Committee votes to advance his nomination, he will then need a majority of votes in the full chamber, where Republicans hold a six-seat advantage.
Anti-Vaccine Champion
Kennedy, an environmental lawyer who has no background in health care or medicine, emerged as one of the
Kennedy is an unusual ally for Trump. He hails from a dynasty of Democratic political leaders and
Last August, after Biden dropped out of the race and Vice President Kamala Harris won the Democratic presidential nomination, Kennedy left the race and
Kennedy’s views on abortion shifted last year while he was running for president, first saying in May that he supported abortion, even for full-term pregnancies. A few days later, he clarifiedon social media site X that “abortion should be legal up until a certain number of weeks, and restricted thereafter.”
It doesn’t look like all Senate Republicans have rallied around Kennedy’s HHS nomination yet.
Republican
And former Republican Majority Leader
His positions on abortion and vaccines aren’t the only ones that senators will question.
He wants to remove fluoride from public water supplies and says the Trump administration will stop use of the cavity-preventing chemical. He’s an advocate of drinking raw milk, despite the potential health risks, and has said he plans to address the country’s “sick food system,” a goal that spurred the Make America Healthy Again push.
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Kennedy has touted discredited Covid treatments like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine. He has blamed the increase in mass shootings on the use of antidepressants like Prozac. Health experts argue that linking violence to mental health problems stigmatizes treatment and that mass shooters are more likely to have a history of misusing drugs and alcohol.
For these reasons, the Committee to Protect Health Care said it had gathered more than 15,000 doctor signatures on a letter opposing his nomination.
“His appointment is a direct threat to the safety of our patients and the public at large,” the letter said. “As physicians, we are outraged by this appointment and we call on the Senate to act immediately.”
“He lacks any relevant government, financial, management, or medical experience,” she wrote. “His views on vaccines are dangerous and willfully misinformed. These facts alone should be disqualifying. But he has personal qualities related to this position which, for me, pose even greater concern.”
After she watched his younger brothers and cousins “follow him down the path of drug addiction,” Caroline Kennedy wrote, now “Bobby is addicted to attention and power.”
Massachusetts Senator
He may also face conflict-of-interest questions. Kennedy recently
Food Views
Yet some of Kennedy’s positions, such as his claims on the dangers of food additives, have drawn support from Democrats.
Virginia Senator
Senator
Democratic
“We don’t have to bring measles and mumps back in order to fix our food system,” Schatz said. “We don’t have to bring back the horrors of polio in the name of cleansing our diet.”
(Adds comments from Caroline Kennedy from the 23rd paragraph. An earlier version corrected the process for Senate confirmation.)
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To contact the editors responsible for this story:
Anne Cronin, John Lauerman
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