Kennedy Seeks Support in Senate to Lead Health and Human Services

WASHINGTON — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. started a weeklong campaign Monday to convince congressional leaders he’s the right person to lead U.S. health care policy.

He is President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, a position that requires Senate approval.

Kennedy ran into skeptics in Congress Monday over his opposition to vaccines, emphasis on organic farming and abortion-rights stance on women’s reproductive health.

Kennedy says he is advancing a “Make America Healthy Again” agenda but some health care professionals say his unschooled and ill-advised policies would lead to disaster.

He continues controversies over whether Trump’s nominees are chosen for their loyalty to the president-elect or their achievements in the posts for which they are nominated.

Kennedy is an environmental lawyer who sometimes engaged in accusations of public health conspiracies, such as saying vaccines contribute to autism. The claim is unproven among the scientific community.

Trump referred to Kennedy’s statements connecting vaccines to autism during a news conference Monday at his home in Florida. He pledged further investigation.

“There’s something wrong, and we’re going to find out about it,” Trump said.

He tried to calm fears about Kennedy’s controversial theories on public health.

“I think he’s going to be much less radical than you would think,” Trump said.

Some of the concerns this week over allegations of Kennedy’s radicalism came from incoming Democratic New York Congressman George Latimer during an interview Sunday on CBS News New York’s “The Point with Marcia Kramer.”

He predicted “major pushback” on vaccine policy in Congress if Kennedy becomes Health and Human Services secretary.

“If Bobby Kennedy does become head of HHS and decides that he wants to get out of the vaccination business for childhood diseases, there’s going to be a battle, and I’m going to be on the side of those battling,” Latimer said.

He mentioned Kennedy’s apparent opposition to polio vaccines as a primary concern. The concern is shared by Trump, who says he is a “big believer in polio vaccines.” 

Latimer added, “And then all of the different childhood vaccinations you get, for measles, for chickenpox, smallpox, all of these different diseases, some of them have been eradicated, some of them have been lessened. To go back and revisit that because you have a philosophy about vaccinations, to me, is just simply insane and it puts people at risk.”

He said Congress might withhold funding from the Department of Health and Human Services if Kennedy wins confirmation and then tries to implement regulations that diminish the availability of vaccines.

Other resistance to Kennedy is coming from Republicans who normally support Trump.

One of them is Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, of Kentucky, who said in a statement, “Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed — they’re dangerous. Anyone seeking the Senate’s consent to serve in the incoming administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts.”

Kennedy is scheduled to meet with more than two dozen Republican senators this week.

As he tries to drum up support for his nomination, health care advocacy groups are mounting their opposition.

Protect Our Care, a consumer group that seeks health care equality, is one of a coalition of about 40 organizations lobbying Republican senators to block Kennedy’s confirmation. In addition, the Committee to Protect Health Care, a grassroots physician organization, has gathered nearly 16,000 signatures from doctors who oppose Kennedy’s nomination.

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