President-elect Donald Trump has appointed environmental advocate and vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Mr. Kennedy, who abandoned his independent presidential campaign in August and endorsed Trump, has pledged to prioritize the fight against chronic diseases. However, his stance on vaccines sets him apart from previous HHS leaders. Mr. Kennedy has frequently challenged vaccine mandates.
“Kennedy will restore these agencies to the traditions of gold standard scientific research, and symbols of transparency, to end the chronic disease epidemic and make America great and healthy again!” Trump said.
Who is Robert F Kennedy Jr?
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was born on January 17, 1954 in Washington, DC. He is the third of eleven children of former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and Ethel Skakel Kennedy, and the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy. Both his father and uncle were murdered in the 1960s.
He studied at Harvard University, attended the London School of Economics, and earned a law degree from the University of Virginia. Later, he completed a master’s degree in environmental law from Pace University School of Law, where he co-founded the Environmental Litigation Clinic and served on the faculty for more than 30 years.
In the 1980s, Mr. Kennedy founded the Waterkeeper Alliance, an organization focused on clean water advocacy, where he served as president and counsel. His work to restore New York’s Hudson River earned him the title of “Hero for the Planet” from Time magazine and helped create more than 300 similar waterkeeper groups around the world. He also played a key role in the New York City Watershed Agreement, now seen as a global example of sustainable development.
Mr. Kennedy founded Children’s Health Defense to address their health issues and harmful exposures, of which he served as president and lead counsel. While claiming to support the safety of vaccines, he has also been found to be spreading false theories, such as that vaccines cause autism and that COVID-19 is targeted at specific ethnic groups. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Mr. Kennedy was already leading a campaign against vaccines and collaborating with anti-vaccine groups. His organization has also sued news outlets, accusing them of bias toward anti-vaccine views. Studies show that his Twitter account was a major source of vaccine-related misinformation. Mr. Kennedy has also met with anti-vaccine activists and endorsed anti-vaccine literature, despite claims that the vaccines are safe and necessary for public health.
Some of Mr Kennedy’s legal victories include pollution cases against Monsanto in 2018 and DuPont in 2019, which inspired the film Dark Waters. He has also advocated for indigenous groups in North and South America.
Mr. Kennedy has written several books, including the bestsellers Crimes Against Nature (2005) and The Real Anthony Fauci (2021). He has also written books for children on American history and St. Francis of Assisi.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is married to actress Cheryl Hines and has seven children from three marriages.
