Senate to vote on RFK Jr.’s bid to become the National Health Secretary

Washington (AP) – The Senate is expected to vote on Thursday about confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a prominent lawyer and vocal vaccine critic, as the country’s health secretary, who controls $ 1.7 trillion in vaccines, food security and health insurance programs for about half the country.

Despite several Republicans expressing deep skepticism about his views on vaccines, Kennedy is expected to win affirmation, absent any changes at the last minute.

Kennedy, 71, whose famous name and family tragedies have put him in the national light since he was a child, has earned a formidable subsequently with his populist – and sometimes extreme – views of food, chemicals and vaccines.

His audience grew only Under the Covid-19 pandemicAs Kennedy devoted much of his time to a nonprofit who sued vaccine manufacturers and utilized campaigns on social media to erode confidence in vaccines as well as the public agencies that promote them.

With the support of Republican President Donald Trump, Kennedy believes he is “uniquely placed” to revive confidence in these public health agencies that include Food and Drug Administration, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes for Health.

Republican Senators have largely embraced Kennedy’s vision and recited his newly hatched slogan to “make America healthy again” in speeches.

Last week, North Carolina said GOP. Thom Tillis that he hopes that Kennedy “gets lost” with reigning in the cost of health care and improving the health of Americans. But a teamout – GOP -SEN. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana doctor – demanded insurance that Kennedy would not make changes to existing vaccine recommendations before he agreed to support him.

The Democrats have been skeptical, with no success, which has given Kennedy during hearings to refuse a long discredited theory that vaccines are causing autism. And some have raised Alarms about Kennedy financially benefited from changing vaccine lines or weakening federal trial protection against vaccine manufacturers.

Kennedy earned more than $ 850,000 last year from a scheme referring to clients to a law firm who has sued the producers of Gardasil, a human papillomavirus vaccine that protects against cervical cancer. While serving as health secretary, he has promised to redirect fees collected from the event to his son.

Kennedy is expected to take over agent job.

On Friday, Advertised NIH It would amount to billions of dollars in medical research given to universities and cancer used to develop treatments of diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s.

Kennedy has also called for a staff overhaul of NIH, FDA and CDC. Last year, he promised to shoot 600 NIH employees, the nation’s largest funding of biomedical research.