Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed today by the US Senate as the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Kennedy, a longtime critic of vaccines who faced fierce questioning from Democrats and some Republicans over his views during his confirmation hearings, was confirmed by a vote of 52 to 48. All Democratic senators, along with two independents, voted against Kennedy. All Republicans, with the exception of Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), voted in support.
A lawyer and activist with no medical or public health training, Kennedy will now head up an agency that oversees 13 operating divisions regulating health and healthcare, food, and medicine, with a budget of $1.8 trillion. Among the agencies he will oversee are the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration.
While Kennedy has also been a critic of the food and agriculture industries, pharmaceutical companies, and the healthcare industry and has said he wants to focus on fixing what he calls America's chronic disease epidemic, public health infectious disease experts say that his two decades of anti-vaccine advocacy are what concerns them the most about his confirmation.
"We've got our work cut out for us," said Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, publisher of CIDRAP News. "The next 4 years are likely to be the challenge of our public health lifetimes."
Concerns about how Kennedy could undermine vaccines
In a statement issued shortly after the confirmation vote, the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) said experts in infectious disease are ready to offer to Kennedy and his staff objective insight and scientific, evidence-based recommendations on future health threats. But the statement highlighted the group's concerns about how Kennedy could undermine confidence in vaccines and upend US vaccine policy.
"Secretary Kennedy's confirmation is an important opportunity to reaffirm the longstanding, overwhelming and settled science regarding the safety and efficacy of vaccines, which remain our best defense against many serious infectious diseases," said IDSA President Tina Tan, MD. "We look forward to working with lawmakers to hold Secretary Kennedy to his promise to maintain our nation’s vaccine approval and safety framework, including the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, the Vaccines for Children program and other public health vaccine programs."
Others warned that confirming Kennedy, with his history of spreading false information about vaccines and other public health issues, could be disastrous.
"This is a person who evades the value of one of the greatest health innovations humans have ever invented and brazenly spreads misinformation," Amesh Adalja, MD, a senior scholar with the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, said in an email. "I view him as a nihilist bent on destroying health."
Senators explain their votes
McConnell, a polio survivor, echoed those concerns in a statement to reporters explaining his "no" vote.
"Individuals, parents, and families have a right to push for a healthier nation and demand the best possible scientific guidance on preventing and treating illness," McConnell's statement said, according to the New York Times. "But a record of trafficking in dangerous conspiracy theories and eroding trust in public health institutions does not entitle Mr. Kennedy to lead these important efforts."
Even senators who voted to confirm Kennedy suggested they remain uneasy about his views on vaccines.
"Vaccines have saved millions of lives, and I sought assurance that, as HHS Secretary, he would do nothing to make it difficult for people to take vaccines or discourage vaccination efforts," Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) said in a post explaining her intention to vote "yes" on the social media site X yesterday. "He has made numerous commitments to me and my colleagues, promising to work with Congress to ensure public access to information and to base vaccine recommendations on data-driven, evidence-based, and medically sound research."
Whether Kennedy upholds those commitments remains to be seen.
