RFK Jr. is now America's top health official after winning Senate confirmation to lead HHS

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the scion of the famous presidential family best known for his controversial views on vaccines, was confirmed to lead the Department of Health and Human Services Thursday by a 52-48 vote largely along party lines — with Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a polio survivor, the only Republican to vote no.

Kennedy was initially considered a tougher sell than some of President Donald Trump's other nominees due to his history of anti-vaccine activism, but in the end no other Republican broke ranks to oppose his nomination. McConnell referenced this history in a statement explaining his vote: “I’m a survivor of childhood polio. In my lifetime, I’ve watched vaccines save millions of lives from devastating diseases across America and around the world. I will not condone the re-litigation of proven cures, and neither will millions of Americans who credit their survival and quality of life to scientific miracles."

During his confirmation hearings, Democrats and some Republicans, including Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., pressed Kennedy to acknowledge the medical consensus that vaccines are safe; Kennedy declined to do so. The nominee also faced questions on his position regarding health care as a human right (he declined to answer); his claim that doctors “should not be giving Black people the same vaccine schedule that is given to white [people]” because of immune system differences (he defended his claim by citing "a series of studies"); and his role in spreading misinformation, including a campaign to discourage vaccinations in Samoa. 

Democrats and health care activists hold Kennedy at least partially responsible for a 2021 measles outbreak in Samoa that infected 57,000 people and killed dozens. Kennedy has denied any responsibility for the outbreak, but he worked with Samoan anti-vaccine activists like Edwin Tamanese, who arranged Kennedy's 2019 visit to the island.

After Trump's victory, Kennedy sought to reassure people that he "won't take away anybody's vaccines" and backtracked from earlier proposals to force states to remove fluoride from drinking water. Critics say, however, that giving him a government pulpit risks sowing confusion about vaccine safety, in particular, and that his promises to clear out or remodel federal health agencies risks damaging their ability to provide Americans with safe and adequate health care.

Kennedy has singled out the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, threatening to fire employees for “aggressive suppression” of raw milk, psychedelics and discredited COVID-era treatments like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine.

"[Kennedy's] dangerous positions could take a sledgehammer to our nation’s medical and public health systems," wrote former CDC Acting Director Richard E. Besser for U.S. News & World Report. "Kennedy has sowed confusion and distrust on health issues, favoring pseudoscience over evidence-based science and conspiracy theories over truth. Disinformation harms all people, but the ripple effects can do the most damage in communities with the greatest health disparities."

"RFK Jr. has consistently fueled misinformation about the safety and efficacy of life-saving preventive health care, undermining years of progress in disease prevention, treatment, and public health policy," Doctors for America’s Food and Drug Administration Task Force said in a statement earlier this month. "We are particularly discouraged by the actions of our physician colleagues on the committee, who chose to vote in favor of allowing an avowed anti-science opportunist to lead the federal agency responsible for the health of our nation."

Cassidy, a former doctor who chairs the Senate health panel, had said he was "struggling" with Kennedy's nomination, but ultimately voted to confirm him after Kennedy promised to let Cassidy have input in filling key roles at HHS, keep information on vaccine safety on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website and not develop “parallel systems” on vaccine approval.

Democrats used what floor time they could grab to decry his nomination.

"It’s almost as if Mr. Kennedy’s beliefs, history, and background were tailor-made to be the exact opposite of what the job demands," said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y. "A few weeks ago, it seemed like maybe Senate Republicans would have drawn the line on nominees like Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard. But the past few days have been a stunning capitulation by Senate Republicans. At this point they’re just rubber-stamping people, no matter how fringe they are."