PNN – Donald Trump’s nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine politician, to serve as the US Department of Health and Human Services has caused concern in the global health community.
According to the report of Pakistan News Network, experts in the health sector in America say that if Kennedy is confirmed as the US health minister in the Senate, it will have a significant impact on the country’s health policies and his reach will be beyond the country’s borders.
The American CNN news channel says: Kennedy has announced several issues that he wants to take on in the federal government. These issues include food sources, fluoride, raw milk, and psychotropic substances. However, he has not spoken publicly about his plans for the US Department of Health’s global mission.
Health experts worry that he will undermine decades of work to control the spread of infectious diseases such as measles, polio and AIDS, and hinder international research collaborations and current efforts to increase global coordination and cooperation in preventing future pandemics.
In addition to concerns that Kennedy will continue to share false or harmful information, health experts said that many of his stated beliefs are at odds with the long-term goals of global health, and as head of the U.S. Department of Health, he could cut the agency’s budget.
The United States is the largest provider of funds needed for WHO programs. In fiscal year 2024, the U.S. spent $12.3 billion on global health, with nearly one-seventh of that—about $1.6 billion—through agencies affiliated with the U.S. Department of Health, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.
Dr. Richard Carmona, who served as US surgeon general under George W. Bush, told CNN: Ultimately, the secretary of health is the head of the largest health, medical and scientific corporation in the world.
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Carmona added: The world needs science, emergency capabilities and our ability to raise and help others.
US President-elect Donald Trump continued to introduce his cabinet and in a controversial move, nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an anti-vaccine politician, to serve as the US Department of Health and Human Services.
In a message on his social network known as TruthSocial, Trump wrote: For a long time, Americans have been ruined by the industrial food complex and pharmaceutical companies that resort to deception, misinformation and disinformation in the field of public health.
Trump had previously said during the election campaign that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would play a major role in his administration.
The president-elect of the United States also said in his speech after winning the election about Robert F. Kennedy: He [Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] will help rebuild America. He wants to do things and we let him do it.
According to CNN, Kennedy has been one of the nation’s leading anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists for years, often publishing false conspiracy theories about the safety and efficacy of vaccines.
Earlier, Axios website wrote that Kennedy is one of the 13 influential actors in Trump’s second administration. A public figure is a vaccine critic.
Trump has had a personal relationship with Kennedy and is seriously considering introducing him as the leader of a health organization. Kennedy was also with him at his residence in Maralago when the results of the 60th US presidential election and the victory of Donald Trump were announced.
Robert F. Kennedy announced his candidacy for the US presidency last year as an independent candidate, but in the final days of his campaign, he met with Trump several times and the two discussed the possibility of him supporting the president-elect in exchange for a role in his administration.
Kennedy suspended his campaign in August 2024 and endorsed Trump on the same day.
Trump inflicted a heavy defeat on the Democrats by winning all the key and decisive states known as the battleground states of northern Arizona, in the swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Nevada.
After the votes are counted and confirmed in the various states, the Electoral College will meet on December 17 to officially cast their ballots and send the results to Congress. The candidate who gets 270 electoral votes or more becomes the president.
These votes will be officially collected by Congress on January 6, and the new US president will be sworn in on January 20, 2025.