President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Health and Human Services Department on Thursday has shaken the healthcare community.
As a member of a prominent Democratic family, Kennedy established a reputation as an environmental attorney, successfully suing major corporations such as DuPont and Monsanto. However, in the last twenty years, he has increasingly focused on promoting vaccine-related claims contradicting the strong consensus among scientists.
In a statement, Kenny vowed to "clean up corruption" and "return our health agencies to their rich tradition of gold-standard evidence-based science." But that's already happening, according to University of California, San Francisco Infectious Disease physician Dr. Peter Chin-Hong.
"What it means for you and for me is to really understand where information is coming from more than ever," Chin-Hong said.
During Kenndy's run for president as an Independent, he was critical of COVID-19 vaccines and child immunizations, making claims that studies have disproven.
Chin-Hong said Kenndy's leadership could make it harder to bridge the growing mistrust in healthcare messaging, which he said can be dangerous.
"Secondly, by controlling the FDA and the NIH specifically that oversees a lot of research that continues to go on, so if you're going to cut work on vaccines," he said. "For example, I'm very, very worried about the next pandemic if we're going to see one."
However, San Francisco Republican Party chair John Dennis said the appointment is exactly what is needed for real reform.
"Personally, I'm excited about it. I'd like to see the old systems, the entrenched systems in Washington D.C., be disrupted and no bigger disrupter than Bobby Kennedy Junior," Dennis said.
Kennedy still needs to be confirmed by the Senate, which some political analysts said might be tricky for him.
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