Seoul Gazette - Vaccine critic RFK Jr. confirmed as health secretary

Known widely as "RFK Jr," the 71-year-old nephew of the late President John F. Kennedy secured the nomination by a vote of 52-48, becoming the latest contentious addition to President Donald Trump's cabinet.

Former Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell voted no, standing as the sole Republican dissenter.

Kennedy now leads a department overseeing more than 80,000 employees and a $1.7 trillion budget, just as scientists warn of the growing threat of bird flu triggering a human pandemic, while declining vaccination rates mean once vanquished childhood diseases are re-emerging.

He was previously an environmental lawyer who sued chemical giant Monsanto and accused climate-change deniers of being traitors.

But he has spent much of the past two decades touting conspiracy theories from linking childhood vaccines to autism and suggesting the Covid virus spared Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people, to casting doubt on whether germs cause infectious diseases.

Yet it was his shift toward Republican positions -- particularly on abortion, which he once supported but has since signaled a willingness to further restrict -- that ultimately won over conservative lawmakers wary of his past.

During heated confirmation hearings, Democrats pointed to what they called glaring conflicts of interest in Kennedy's financial filings: lucrative consulting fees from law firms suing pharmaceutical companies.

They also called attention to allegations of sexual misconduct and his claims linking school shootings to antidepressants.

- Make America Healthy Again -

Kennedy found steadier footing when promoting his "Make America Healthy Again" (MAHA) agenda -- a play on Trump's signature slogan -- emphasizing the need to combat the nation's chronic disease crisis by holding the food industry more accountable.

Such ideas have cross-party resonance, though experts question how he will implement them, given his troubled relationship with science-based evidence.

Kennedy initially launched an independent bid in the 2024 presidential election, making news with a string of bizarre revelations.

Among them was his claim of recovering from a parasitic brain worm, and his daughter's story about him using a chainsaw to decapitate a dead whale.

Last year, 77 Nobel Prize winners penned an open letter to the Senate opposing his nomination, warning that his confirmation could put public health "in jeopardy."

He was also widely opposed by his own family, with his cousin Caroline Kennedy, a former diplomat, recently accusing him of being a "predator" who led younger relatives down the path of drug addiction.

- 'Disaster waiting to happen' -

"He's a frightening man, a dangerous man, and I think he'll do harm," Paul Offit, a leading vaccine expert at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia told AFP. "It is a disaster waiting to happen, and it will happen."

Critics have accused Republican senators of looking the other way.

"They are choosing to pretend like it is in any way believable that RFK Jr. won't use his new power to do exactly the thing he has been trying to do for decades -- undermine vaccines," said Democratic Senator Patty Murray.

Nothing prevents Kennedy from dismissing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) vaccine advisory committee, which determines which vaccines must be covered by insurance, she added.

Kennedy has also vowed to gut the Food and Drug Administration and suspend research on infectious diseases.

The Senate has approved all Trump's cabinet picks to date.

Just one day prior, lawmakers gave the green light to Tulsi Gabbard as Trump's pick to oversee US intelligence services, despite criticism over her limited background and past support for adversarial nations such as Russia and Syria.

Gabbard's confirmation is viewed as yet another testament to Trump's firm grip on his party, following a slate of controversial cabinet nominees -- among them a defense secretary accused of sexual assault and an FBI chief allegedly driven by political vendettas.

P.Hwang--SG