Robert F Kennedy Jr, President Donald Trump's controversial pick to lead the US Department of Health and Human Services, has denied he is opposed to life-saving vaccines despite a long track record of questioning their efficacy.
At his confirmation hearing on Wednesday, Mr Kennedy faced a tough line of questioning on his anti-vaccine stance from Democrats on the Senate finance committee.
“News reports have claimed that I am anti-vaccine, or any industry. I am neither. I am pro-safety,” he told the Senate. “My first book in 2014, a first line of it is, I am not anti-vaccine, and the last line is, I am not anti-vaccine.”
Mr Kennedy is considered one of Mr Trump's most divisive appointees and, if confirmed, he would manage the $1.7 trillion Health and Human Services agency, which oversees food and hospital inspections, health insurance for about half of the country and vaccine recommendations.
But he has caused concern over leading the anti-vaccine organisation Children's Health Defence and publicly saying “there is no vaccine that is safe and effective”. He has spread misleading claims about vaccines, suggesting they can cause autism, chronic disease and food allergies. Medical experts say there is no evidence to support his claims.
Mr Kennedy has also tried to block the federal authorisation of the Covid-19 vaccine six months after they were introduced in 2021, and criticised public health precautions during the height of the pandemic.
Senators pushed the nominee on his shifting positions, referring to podcasts where Mr Kennedy spoke of lack of confidence in vaccines. But he insisted: “I support the measles vaccine. I support the polio vaccine.”
The former independent presidential candidate has no professional medical experience or training, and ran against Mr Trump and former president Joe Biden in last year's national elections. His campaign corralled a bipartisan and anti-establishment base of Americans frustrated by the two-party system and failures of the political status quo.
The Kennedy family, considered to be US political royalty, has increasingly spoken out against his nomination. Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, who was Washington's ambassador to Australia and the daughter of former president John F Kennedy, delivered a letter to the Senate committee on health, education, labour, and pensions, where she called her cousin “a predator” and “unqualified” for the job.
“I feel an obligation to speak out,” Ms Kennedy said in the letter. “His views on vaccines are dangerous and wilfully misinformed.”
The hearing was interrupted by a demonstrator who screamed back at his claims he is not anti-vaccine, “Yes, you are.” Applause from Mr Kennedy's guests followed as demonstrators were arrested from the hearing. Another demonstrator later screamed, “Vaccines save lives, Bobby's lies kill.”
Anti-vaccine activists said Mr Kennedy's confirmation hearing was historic, including the non-profit group Mr Kennedy led. Children's Health Defence chief executive Mary Holland called it “history being made”.
With concern growing over the spread of the H5N1 bird flu in farms across the country and after several human cases in the past year, the nominee answered he would not halt funding into the issue and would continue to support pandemic preparedness.
Democrats did endorse Mr Kennedy's points tackling the proven risks of the mainstream American diet, where he spoke in line with mainstream scientific consensus.
“I don't want to take food away from anybody. If you like a McDonald's cheeseburger, Diet Coke, which my boss loves, you should be able to get them … but you should know what the impacts are on your family and on your health,” he told the committee.
Mr Kennedy also echoed national concerns of high costs in the American healthcare system: “For a long time, the nation has been locked in a divisive healthcare debate about who pays when healthcare costs reach 20 per cent.”
“Shifting the burden around between government and corporations and insurers and providers and families is like rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic.
“Our country will sink beneath the sea of desperation and debt if they don't change the course and ask, why are health care costs so high in the first place. The obvious answer is chronic disease.”
