A new coalition of more than 700 public health experts, scientists and activists has signed an open letter opposing the Senate's confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health, calling for his “marginal” He said a lack of ideology and experience would put the country at grave risk from serious infections. infection.
A letter from the coalition, titled “Protect Public Health,” said President Kennedy's “baseless and biased beliefs have the potential to seriously undermine public health practices across the country and around the world.”
Signatories include faculty from schools of public health at prestigious universities such as Harvard, Yale, and Emory.
The letter raised concerns about Kennedy's lack of medical expertise and inexperience running a vast bureaucracy like the Department of Health and Human Services. He also cited a long history of doubts about vaccines.
“The fact that President Trump would now appoint someone who is clearly anti-vaxxer is unfathomable and, if confirmed, could threaten not only our progress in saving lives from COVID-19 but also the loss of lives. It could also undermine relief efforts from threatening infectious diseases, such as polio, tetanus, measles, mumps and seasonal influenza,'' the letter said.
President Kennedy insists he is not anti-vaccine, only calling for more transparency about vaccine safety.
This latest anti-Kennedy push comes on top of another letter last week from more than 15,000 doctors organized by the Democratic-aligned Health Care Protection Committee asking senators not to confirm him.
Mr. Kennedy has traveled to the Capitol in recent weeks to meet with dozens of senators considering his nomination. Although there is no strong public opposition to Kennedy from Senate Republicans, Kennedy could be allowed to lose three votes if all Democrats opposed him.
Unlike other Republicans, Senate Health Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) did not immediately endorse Kennedy after the meeting, offering only lukewarm comments on social media.
Cassidy told reporters briefly that he had discussed “all combinations of vaccines” with Kennedy, but declined to provide further details after the nearly hour-long meeting.
