United States President-elect Donald Trump has picked controversial politician and vaccine sceptic Robert F Kennedy Jr to be Secretary of Health and Human Services, a job he lobbied for when suspended his own election campaign and supported that of the Republican candidate.“I am thrilled to announce Robert F Kennedy Jr as the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services [HHS],” Trump wrote on Thursday on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“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.”
High profile and controversial
Kennedy is a contentious but not surprising appointment. He ran for president, first as a Democrat and then as an independent, before dropping out in August and endorsing Trump in exchange for a role in a future administration.
“He’s going to help make America healthy again,” Trump said in his victory speech on November 6. “He wants to do some things, and we’re going to let him get to it.”
The Department of Health and Human Services is in charge of just about everything related to health at a federal level in the US.
It oversees the Food and Drug Administration, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, and the massive Medicare and Medicaid Services programmes, which provide health coverage for those with limited income, those aged 65 and older, and disabled peop …
