WASHINGTON: Robert F Kennedy Jr, the vaccine skeptical and former presidential candidate who fled his mom’s group and threw his “medical independence” movement behind President Donald Trump, has been confirmed by the Senate as the nation’s future health secretary.
The voting, 52-48, capped a remarkable surge for Kennedy and a curious twist in British politics. He was confirmed by a Republican Senate, without a second Democratic vote, in a room where his parents, Robert F Kennedy, and his brothers, John F Kennedy and Edward M Kennedy, all organised office as Democrats. Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, a polio victim and the former Democratic leader, voted low, the lone Republican to resist Kennedy.
Kennedy is expected to take the oath of office on Thursday evening to guide the sprawling firm with 13 working groups, including some of the FDA, the National Institutes of Health, and the CDC, which he has described as corrupt.
Kennedy’s views on vaccination were at the center of the Democrats ‘ campaign against him. He has stated that he favors both the polio and measles vaccination. But he opposes vaccine mandates, yet for children, and when pushed, he refused to accept the major medical consensus that vaccinations do not trigger autism.
