By Ahmed Aboulenein and Stephanie Kelly, Reuters
Robert F Kennedy Jr will oversee multiple high-profile agencies, including the FDA and Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Photo: Rebecca Noble / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / Getty Images via AFP
Robert F Kennedy Jr, a vaccine critic who has pledged to tackle chronic disease, was confirmed by the US Senate as Health Secretary on Thursday, after overcoming resistance from the medical establishment and members of Congress with promises to limit his role in vaccine policy.
After Kennedy is sworn into the position later on Thursday, President Donald Trump will sign an executive order to establish a MAHA commission, named for Kennedy's "Make America Healthy Again" movement, White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said on Fox News on Thursday.
The order will direct the new secretary of the Health and Human Services Department "to investigate this chronic crisis plaguing our country", she said.
The vote to confirm Kennedy was 52-48, with Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky the lone Republican joining all 47 Democrats to vote against Kennedy, who had made pledges to protect existing vaccination programmes in a bid to secure votes of hesitant lawmakers.
Once sworn in, Kennedy will oversee multiple high-profile agencies, including the FDA and Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
Kennedy, 71, is an environmental lawyer who has long sown doubts about the safety and efficacy of vaccines that have helped curb disease and prevented millions of deaths for decades.
He will now run an HHS department that directs more than US$3 trillion in healthcare spending. Also under HHS purview are the Medicare and Medicaid programs that provide health insurance for over 140 million Americans and the National Institutes of Health.
In addition to pledging to work to end chronic disease, Kennedy has said he wants to break any ties between employees at the US drugs regulator and industry and advise US water systems to remove fluoride. Opponents argued that he is unfit for the job because of his prominent role in the anti-vaccine movement.
Kennedy's path to confirmation was fraught and did not always appear to have the necessary votes among Republicans. He had to overcome his past as a life-long Democrat, his previous views in support of abortion, as well as his stance on vaccines. Some prominent members of his own family, including cousin Caroline Kennedy, also urged his rejection.
Ultimately, Senate Republicans closed ranks as they have for every Trump cabinet selection so far.
The Trump White House has said it plans to drastically shrink the size of the federal government. Kennedy has said he wants to get rid of many employees at both the FDA and NIH.
Following the Senate vote, Stephen Ubl, chief executive of Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, the top industry lobby group, said drugmakers were eager to work with the Trump administration to address reducing the burden of chronic disease, improve health outcomes and make healthcare more affordable for Americans.
"A key part of the solution is to strengthen the ecosystem that makes our country the best place in the world to develop new medicines," he said in a statement. "We also need to rein in abuses that drive up costs at the pharmacy."
Kennedy commitments
Democrats accused Kennedy over two days of contentious confirmation hearings of being financially vested in the anti-vaccine movement and peddling conspiracy theories to sow doubt about lifesaving medicines, assertions he rejected.
Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a doctor with decades of work in community-based health, was seen as a potential swing vote against Kennedy after expressing wariness about the nominee's vaccine views.
After facing an intense political pressure campaign - including billionaire Elon Musk's threats to support primary opponents of any Republican who obstructed Trump's nominees - Cassidy, who is up for re-election next year, said he had gotten the necessary reassurances to vote in line with his party.
Cassidy said he received commitments from Kennedy that he would not remove government health agency statements that vaccines do not cause autism. Kennedy has long espoused a debunked link between vaccines and autism despite scientific evidence to the contrary.
Kennedy also committed to work within the existing vaccine approval and safety monitoring systems and to honour decisions by the CDC's outside panel of experts, known as the Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices, without changes.
Kennedy has also called for banning hundreds of food additives and chemicals and for getting ultra-processed foods out of school lunches.
His political future seemed uncertain last summer as his independent presidential campaign faltered. In August, he ended the campaign and endorsed Trump in exchange for a role in Trump's administration.
The deal, helped along by Trump donor and financier Omeed Malik, brought Trump extra support in the presidential election.
After the endorsement, Kennedy supporters flocked to back the Republican, trusting that Kennedy would be given a second political chance if Trump returned to the White House.
-Reuters
