Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been confirmed as US Health Secretary. He was approved by 52 to 48 votes despite efforts to smear him for his work raising concerns about vaccine safety.
The former Democrat and 2024 independent Presidential candidate has pledged to tackle obesity and ultra-processed foods as part of his aim to Make America Healthy Again.
He will now be in charge of a $1.7 trillion agency that manages government-funded health care for millions of people, oversees vaccine and drug development and steers pandemic preparedness.
Former Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell was the only Republican Senator to vote no in the end, possibly motivated by his experience as a polio survivor.
During an earlier confirmation, Senator Bill Cassidy, a former doctor, pressed him to confirm he would not “impound, divert” or reduce any funding from Congress on vaccination programmes. Kennedy said he would not.
By the end of the hearing, Cassidy said he believed the two would have “a great working relationship to make America healthy again”.
It raises hopes for greater transparency around the safety and efficacy of the Covid vaccines and other drugs where campaigners have raised concerns over trials and approvals.
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