Donald Trump nominates Robert F Kennedy Jr to lead US federal health department: ‘Make America healthy again’

Donald Trump has nominated infamous vaccine sceptic Robert F Kennedy Jr to be the US’ Secretary of Health and Human Services in his latest cabinet appointment.

In a statement, the President-elect said he was “thrilled” to nominate RFK Jr to the top health job.

“For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health,” Mr Trump said.

RFK Jr, 70, has been one of the biggest proponents of disinformation on the efficacy of vaccines and other health information. His organisation was found by a court in 2019 to be one of two groups funding most Facebook ads spreading misinformation about vaccines.

Throughout the election, Mr Trump signalled he wanted RFK Jr “to take care of health”, including “women’s health”.

After RFK Jr dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, which he ran as an independent, and endorsed the Trump-Vance ticket, Mr Trump promised to let him “go wild” on health and food policy in his administration.

In his acceptance speech last week, the President-elect said the 70-year-old — who is the nephew of assassinated president John F Kennedy — was “going to make America healthy again”.

“He wants to do some things, and we’re going to let him get to it,” he said, adding “Go have a good time, Bobby.”

The pick must be confirmed by the Senate but is likely to spark controversy even among Trump’s Republican allies given Kennedy’s long history of touting debunked claims about vaccines and open promotion of conspiracy theories — including about the recent Covid-19 pandemic and vaccination roll-out.

In recent weeks, RFK has said he had no plans to take vaccines away from Americans but to, instead, improve the science of vaccine safety — which, he said, “has huge deficits in it”.

“I’m going to make sure scientific safety studies and efficacy are out there, and people can make individual assessments about whether that product is going to be good for them,” he told MSNBC the day after the Republican party’s sweeping election victory.

He also told MSNBC he has “never been anti-vaccine”.

RFK told NPR that Mr Trump gave him three instructions: get “corruption and the conflicts” out of regulatory agencies, return medical agencies to the “gold standard”, and “end the chronic disease epidemic... within two years”.

He also said the Trump administration would recommend against fluoride in drinking water — which has been added for decades to fight cavities — which RFK claims is “almost certainly” causing neurological development issues and loss of IQ in children.

These claims are unfounded, and health agencies around the world agree that adding a small amount of fluoride to drinking water is safe and an effective means of fighting dental decay.

Shortly before the election, co-chair of Mr Trump’s transition team Howard Lutnick downplayed the possibility of the Kennedy joining the health department, telling CNN he was “not getting a job”.

Nonetheless, RFK’s nomination to Mr Trump’s second cabinet confirms concerns that he is appointing loyalists and extremists to his administration rather than field experts or technocrats.

It follows his appointment of Fox News presenter Pete Hegseth to head-up the Department of Defence, scandal-plagued MAGA loyalist Matt Gaetz as US attorney general, and former hard-right adviser Stephen Miller to join incoming “border czar” Tom Homan to tackle Trump’s immigration and deportation agenda.

Mr Trump has also appointed eccentric billionaire Elon Musk to lead the new slashand-burn Department of Government Efficiencies (DOGE) alongside “American patriot” — and failed Republican presidential candidate — Vivek Ramaswamy.

More to come.