Anti-Crowd Kennedy Confirmed as US Health Secretary
Only one Republican senator, Mitch McConnell, who survived polio, has voted against it.
WashingtonThe Senate has confirmed anti-vaccine Robert F. Kennedy as the new US health secretary. The 52-48 vote puts Donald Trump's controversial nominee at the helm of the country's health agencies amid the rampant escalation of bird flu. In Thursday's vote, Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell was the only Republican to vote against Kennedy. McConnell, who is becoming the last shelter of resistance within the Republican Party against Trump's controversial nominees, had polio as a child, making him a strong defender of vaccines.
On the contrary, one of the key votes to pave the way for him as health secretary has been that of Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who after harshly questioning Kennedy at the initial hearing, told X that he would vote "yes" after receiving "serious commitments" from the new government.
In recent weeks, Kennedy had tried to show a more moderate profile regarding his anti-vaccine positions. In fact, during the Senate hearing prior to his confirmation, he said that he was "in favor of vaccines." On numerous occasions, Kennedy has publicly questioned vaccines, denying their effectiveness or claiming that they cause autism (a false and at the same time stigmatizing claim).
"Press reports have said I'm anti-vaccine or anti-industry. I'm neither. I'm pro-safety," Kennedy said in her statement to senators on Wednesday. However, the reality is that until 2023 she chaired an anti-vaccine nonprofit called Children's Health Defense (CHD) that has launched legal battles against the use of some vaccines in the US.
Kennedy initially disassociated herself from CHD in order to be able to run for president in the last election. In August, she resigned from the candidacy to support Trump, with whom she promoted her version of Make America Great Again (MAGA): Make America Healthy Again.
Since 2020, this organization has filed almost 30 federal and state lawsuits, many of which challenge vaccines and public health orders. And Kennedy himself even appears as a lawyer in some of the cases. Some CHD lawsuits have been filed against the very federal agencies he will now oversee as Secretary of Health.
Kennedy's fight against vaccines is not purely an ideological issue. He also makes money. It has been shown that, although he does not represent anti-vaccine legal cases, he receives a commission for the cases. In a massive lawsuit against the pharmaceutical company Merck over the human papillomavirus vaccine it produces - known as Gardasil - Kennedy played a key role in building the case through plaintiffs who claimed to have suffered severe side effects.
In a letter sent by his cousin, Caroline, Kennedy specified how "Bobby" intends to continue to profit from the lawsuit against Merck over Gardasil. Last year, for example, he made more than $850,000 from that settlement. "In other words, he is willing to enrich himself by denying access to a vaccine that can prevent almost all forms of cervical cancer and has been safely administered to millions of boys and girls," wrote the daughter of former President John F. Kennedy.
During Wednesday's hearing, Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders showed images of two baby outfits sold by CHD that read: "Unvaccinated, Unfeared" ("Unvaxxed, Unafraid") and "No vaccine, no problem" ( "No Vax, No Problem"Can you tell us now that, now that you are pro-vaccine, you will have your organization take these products off the market?" Sanders asked. Kennedy's response was to remind him that he was no longer on the board and no longer has "any power over this organization."
