The environmental lawyer from California, who faced tough questioning during confirmation hearings over his history of vaccine skepticism, will become the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed on Thursday as the top health official in the country.
As secretary of HHS, Kennedy will administer and oversee all HHS programs, operating divisions, and activities, including a nearly $2 trillion budget. These divisions include the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
The Senate voted 52-48, primarily along party lines, to confirm President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the department. The vote confirming his seat took place Thursday morning, a day after all Republicans in the Senate agreed to advance his nomination.
Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who had polio as a child and had previously said that any of Trump’s nominees who were seeking Senate confirmation should steer clear of efforts to discredit the polio vaccine, voted against Kennedy's confirmation. In a statement. McConnell said that in his lifetime, he's 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," he said.
McConnell said Kennedy has a record of "trafficking in dangerous conspiracy theories and eroding trust" in public health institutions. “This Administration–led by the same President who delivered a medical miracle with Project Warp Speed–deserves a leader who is willing to acknowledge without qualification the efficacy of life-saving vaccines and who can demonstrate an understanding of basic elements of the U.S. health care system. Mr. Kennedy failed to prove he is the best possible person to lead America’s largest health agency. As he takes office, I sincerely hope Mr. Kennedy will choose not to sow further doubt and division but to restore trust in our public health institutions.”
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Kennedy, who faced tough questioning during confirmation hearings over his skepticism over the safety and efficacy of vaccines, gave up his own campaign for president to support Trump’s campaign. After he was sworn in as HHS secretary later in the day on Thursday, Kennedy said, "I have prayed each morning for the past two decades for God to put me in a position to solve the childhood chronic disease epidemic and now, thanks to you Mr. President, we will make this promise a reality.”
Prior to the vote, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, (D-N.Y.) implored Republican senators to reject Kennedy’s nomination. Kennedy, he said, is the least qualified person that President Trump could have nominated for the job to lead HHS. Schumer said he believes that if the vote was held by secret ballot, most Republicans would vote against the confirmation.
“A vote to confirm Kennedy is a vote to make America sicker,” Schumer said. “He made a living not by promoting public health but by actively fighting it. He is the face of the anti-vaccine movement. He has spent decades profiting on vaccine misinformation.”
But Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), who chairs the Finance Committee which held Kennedy’s first confirmation hearing, urged support for the nomination. Kennedy, he said will support safe vaccinations but wants to be sure research is done well. His confirmation will help bring together the greatest minds to put an end of the chronic disease epidemic facing America. “We need to get in the business of making America healthy again,” Crapo said, adding that Kennedy will bring a fresh perspective to health care.