If confirmed, Kennedy would “determine and shape health insurance for your parents and grandparents,” Jha wrote. “He and his appointees would oversee the agency that decides what medications are available to the American people. »

Jha warned that many of Kennedy’s ideas, although they gained ground among large swaths of the electorate, would be dangerous if put into practice.

“His ideas may look good on bumper stickers, but they are unserious and often downright harmful,” Jha said. “Our healthcare system is far from perfect. But it sparked many advances that benefited the American people. This nomination, if confirmed, puts all of that at risk.

Kennedy continued a independent presidential campaign before giving up and supporting Trump and I’m looking for him across the country. Trump had long suggested that Kennedy would have a leading role in its administration shaping health policy, repeatedly saying he would “go wild on health” and even hand it over to “women’s health.”

Although Kennedy’s emphasis on better nutrition and chronic disease enjoys support, his long-standing opposition to vaccines of any kind has baffled public health experts, not to mention his bizarre and unsubstantiated claims that that Wi-Fi can cause cancer, that chemicals in water can cause cancer. to people who identify as transgender and that major media organizations are controlled by the CIA.

In recent months, Kennedy has insisted that he supports “vaccine choice” and is not “anti-vaccine”. In a recent interview with NBC, Kennedy said he would not have blocked the approval of COVID-19 vaccines if he had been head of the FDA, but said “no effort had been done” to have the “best scientific data” at the time.

This type of coverage does not reassure critics like Timothy Caulfield, a health law professor and television commentator.

“RFK Jr is not a ‘vaccine skeptic,'” Caulfield said Friday via X. “Please newsagency (sic) STOP calling him that.” Despite his claims to the contrary, RFK Jr is an “anti-vaccine fanatic”. This change in language is a good example of the harm he has already done. Let’s not normalize harmful lies.”

Kennedy is also a vocal opponent of fluoride, a mineral added to drinking water since the 1940s to prevent tooth decay and keep bones strong.

“The nomination of RFK Jr is a rejection of a century of unprecedented and miraculous progress in public health,” said Dr. Craig Spencer, an emergency physician and commentator who is also on the Brown University faculty. “We take it for granted because we don’t recognize how far we’ve come.”

Katelyn Jetelina, a San Diego-based epidemiologist who publishes the newsletter “Your Local Epidemiologist,” said Kennedy’s nomination represented a reactionary attitude. turn against progress.

“We all want a healthier world; RFK Jr is not the answer,” she said via X. “The rules of the game have now completely changed. Instead of pushing the needle towards a healthier society, it is now more about preventing it from moving backwards. We have work to do. »

Dr. Jennifer Nuzzo, an epidemiologist specializing in global health security, said “the majority of Americans support vaccines.”

It’s “important that people CHOOSE to take advantage of the enormous benefits of vaccines,” she wrote on X. “The problem is not that we don’t have the facts on our side. The problem is that antivaxxers like RFK Jr. are fabricating scientific-sounding misinformation to dissuade people from getting vaccinated.

Dr. Angela Rasmussen, a virologist who teaches at the University of Saskatchewan, joked on social news that if another pandemic occurred while Kennedy was head of HHS, the nation could face a doomsday scenario .

“I think about and study pandemics for a living, and I have a hard time imagining a worst-case pandemic scenario that doesn’t involve an outbreak of the undead,” said Rasmussen, who is also a researcher at the Center for Georgetown Global Health. Science and security.

Responding to a social media post about rising measles cases, Rasmussen said the “very undesirable trend” would likely continue under Kennedy’s leadership, an apparent reference to his anti-vaccine stance.

It’s not just medical experts who raise objections.

Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor in the Clinton administration, spoke for many of his generation when he recalled the devastation of polio and expressed his objection to Kennedy’s selection.

“I’m old enough to remember the time when polio ravaged the planet and put my six-year-old friends in iron lungs,” Reich wrote on school to get vaccinated. We have eradicated the disease. We protected the common good. RFK Jr being tapped to run HHS is a disgrace.

However, not all Democrats rejected Kennedy.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, wrote on

In a follow-up article, he added that the “science-based decision” to get vaccinated “improves health and safety,” while emphasizing his agreement with Kennedy in other areas.

“If we as a country followed the science, we would also be much more concerned about the impact of pesticides on public health, about (agricultural) nutrition policy, and about the lack of access to medicines on prescription due to the high price of drugs. That’s why I support a major overhaul of institutions like the FDA, which have stood in the way of reducing drug costs and promoting healthy food choices.

Material from previous Globe articles was used in this report.

Travis Andersen can be contacted at [email protected].