After pledging to allow politician and vaccine skeptic Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.), to “go wild” on health and medicines, President-elect Donald Trump has seemingly made good on his promise with his official nomination for the next U.S. secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Trump ended days of speculation about RFK Jr.’s potential role in his administration with a Thursday announcement on Truth Social, divulging his appointment of Kennedy for the HHS post and calling out food and drug companies for engaging in “deception, misinformation, and disinformation."
Under RFK Jr.’s leadership, the HHS will play a “big role” in protecting the public from items that have “contributed to the overwhelming health crisis in this country," Trump added, listing "pharmaceutical products" specifically, among others.
RFK Jr., a nephew of late President John F. Kennedy, has a decades-long history of spreading anti-vaccine rhetoric and conspiracy theories, including the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism. Under his leadership, anti-vaccine organization Children’s Health Defense rose to prominence and had a hand in the spreading of vaccine misinformation during the COVID pandemic, leading to the group’s suspension from Facebook and Instagram.
At a summit following the U.S. presidential election, GSK’s CEO Emma Walmsley agreed that RFK Jr.’s broad “make America healthy again” motto is “a really great idea” in theory, but she pointed to declining vaccination rates as an area of concern surrounding his stances.
Shortly after the election, RFK Jr. seemingly sought to assuage feelings over his vaccine beliefs by stating in an interview, "We're not going to take vaccines away from anybody."
The RFK Jr. selection for HHS secretary means that he won't be tapped to lead the FDA, the federal agency with the most influence over the biopharma industry. Still, RFK Jr. will likely play a major role in the FDA's approach under Trump given that the FDA is part of HHS. It's not immediately clear who Trump might tap to lead the FDA.
In a statement Thursday, Stephen Ubl, the CEO of the industry trade group PhRMA, pointed out that biopharma innovation "has made tremendous progress in the fight against disease—dramatically improving cancer survival rates, curing hepatitis C, and eliminating devastating diseases like polio and smallpox." The industry is a "crown jewel" of the U.S. economy, Ubl said, "giving American patients more medicine choices than anywhere else in the world and supporting millions of high-paying, high-tech jobs around the country."
"We want to work with the Trump administration to further strengthen our innovation ecosystem and improve health care for patients," Ubl said, touting pharmacy benefit manager reform and addressing "flaws" in the Inflation Reduction Act as two priorities.
While the president-elect gets to make the nomination for HHS secretary on his own, the official appointment won’t take effect unless confirmed by the Senate. That process may prove to be contentious given RFK Jr.'s public stances.
“Mr. Kennedy's outlandish views on basic scientific facts are disturbing and should worry all parents who expect schools and other public spaces to be safe for their children,” Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden, D-Oregon, said in a statement following Trump’s announcement. “When Mr. Kennedy comes before the Finance Committee, it’s going to be very clear what Americans stand to lose under Trump and Republicans in Congress.”
The HHS role is currently held by President Joe Biden-appointed Xavier Becerra, who served as California’s attorney general before joining Biden’s cabinet. During Trump’s first term in 2017, he picked former Eli Lilly exec Alex Azar, who ended up leading the department through the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Editor's note: This story was updated with a statement from PhRMA CEO Stephen Ubl.