Physician Groups Quiet on RFK Jr. Nomination for HHS Secretary

The response from physician groups to President-elect Donald Trump’s nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for HHS secretary has been rather measured so far.

Take for example the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP). “[This] nomination … offers an important opportunity to share the settled science on vaccines with government leaders, policymakers, and the American public,” AAP President Benjamin Hoffman, MD, said in a statement. “This is a conversation pediatricians have every day with families, and we welcome the chance to do the same with national leaders.”

“Vaccines are the safest and most cost-effective way to protect children, families, and communities from disease, disability, and death,” he continued. “Continuing national investment in vaccine access is absolutely essential to support healthy communities … As pediatricians, we firmly believe the most effective way for HHS to ensure the future health of our nation is to protect and support the health of our children: by ensuring that science continues to underpin all decision making, policies, and programs.”

Kennedy’s selection has been a controversial one largely because of his skepticism on the safety and value of vaccines. He also has said he supports getting rid of fluoride in the drinking water supply. Fluoride strengthens teeth and reduces cavities by replacing minerals lost during normal wear and tear, according to the CDC. The addition of low levels of fluoride to drinking water has long been considered one of the greatest public health achievements of the last century.

Kennedy, also known as RFK Jr., additionally has made no secret of his disdain for the agencies under the HHS secretary’s purview. In a video for the Make America Healthy Again initiative that he leads, Kennedy said his “big priority will be to clean up the public health agencies like CDC, NIH, FDA, and U.S. Department of Agriculture.”

But despite holding these controversial views, Trump’s choice of Kennedy has garnered little response from physician organizations, possibly because, if confirmed, he would hold enormous sway over issues that physician groups care about. Several major physician organizations did not respond at all by press time when contacted by MedPage Today for comment on the nomination.

The American College of Physicians (ACP) did not comment directly on the nomination but instead issued a statement in support of vaccines. “Vaccines are vital to our ability to prevent diseases that threaten public health,” said ACP President Isaac Opole, MBChB, PhD. “The ACP remains concerned about the spread of disinformation and misinformation regarding vaccination … It is critical that policymakers and government officials understand the importance of vaccines, evidence-based medicine, and other ways that our public health infrastructure protects all of us.”

Some other interest groups, however, did not hold back. “Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is not remotely qualified for the role and should be nowhere near the science-based agencies that safeguard our nutrition, food safety, and health,” said Peter Lurie, MD, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI). “Nominating an anti-vaxxer like Kennedy to HHS is like putting a flat Earther at the head of NASA. CSPI opposes this nomination and any other nominees who are a direct threat to science and evidence-based solutions. If unassuming little viruses could talk, measles, mumps, and rubella would be loudly cheerleading for the nomination of this prolific spreader of scientific misinformation.”

“RFK Jr. is an unfit, unqualified extremist who cannot be trusted to protect the health, safety, and reproductive freedom of American families,” Mini Timmaraju, JD, president and CEO of Reproductive Freedom for All, a pro-choice group, said in a statement. The organization noted that Kennedy “has gone on record supporting a national abortion ban and has spread dangerous disinformation and conspiracy theories.”

Interestingly, Mike Pence, Trump’s former vice president, also opposed Kennedy’s nomination but had a completely opposite take on Kennedy’s abortion views. “For the majority of his career, RFK Jr. has defended abortion on demand during all 9 months of pregnancy, supports overturning the Dobbs decision, and has called for legislation to codify Roe v Wade,” Pence said in a statement. “If confirmed, RFK Jr. would be the most pro-abortion Republican-appointed secretary of HHS in modern history … I respectfully urge Senate Republicans to reject this nomination and give the American people a leader who will respect the sanctity of life as secretary of Health and Human Services.”

Former CDC director Tom Frieden, MD, did not weigh in one way or the other on the nomination but said it carried enormous weight. “Whoever becomes HHS secretary has a life-and-death responsibility to protect Americans’ health — not only from the threat of another pandemic but also from the chronic disease epidemic that plagues our country,” Frieden, now president and CEO of Resolve to Save Lives, said in an email. “A litmus test will be whether the incoming secretary uses proven strategies to stop the known and leading causes of most chronic disease: tobacco, alcohol, junk food, and PM2.5 [particulate] pollution.”

Zeke Emanuel, MD, PhD, former chief of bioethics at the NIH Clinical Center, was more blunt about the nomination. “Vaccines have saved 154 million lives globally,” he said in an email. “And more than 100 million of those lives were infants. Appointing a known anti-vaxxer as the head of HHS threatens all the progress we’ve made. Eroding the trust in or access to vaccines will lead to an increase in serious illnesses, hospitalization, and even deaths.”

Physician members of Congress are divided in their views along party lines. “As an emergency medicine physician and public health expert, I know how essential it is for our public health leaders to take an evidence-based approach and rely on rigorous science,” Rep. Raul Ruiz, MD (D-Calif.) said in an email to MedPage Today. “I’m concerned that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s anti-vaccination rhetoric, which has no scientific basis, will undermine trust in vaccinations at a time when our nation is already experiencing an increase in measles outbreaks, the reemergence of polio, and the fivefold rise in whooping cough. Vaccines are essential in protecting our communities from preventable diseases, and any false rhetoric that erodes this trust could result in dire consequences.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD (R-La.), had a differing opinion, saying in a tweet that Kennedy “has championed issues like healthy foods and the need for greater transparency in our public health infrastructure. I look forward to learning more about his other policy positions and how they will support a conservative, pro-American agenda.”

Washington Correspondent Shannon Firth contributed to this story.

Disclosure: Former CDC Director Tom Frieden is a cousin of the author, but she did not contact him for this story. His statement was obtained by Shannon Firth.

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