Auchincloss: Senate must reject ‘dangerous’ RFK Jr. as HHS head

Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) urged the Senate to reject Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the Secretary of Health and Human Services in a Friday op-ed for the Boston Globe. 

“Now Donald Trump is setting Kennedy up to “go wild” as secretary of health and human services. Kennedy is not just unqualified, he is dangerous — particularly for children. The Senate must reject him,” said the Massuchusetts leader who now occupies the seat previously held by Joe Kennedy III, the great nephew of former president John F. Kennedy. 

Auchincloss’s remarks about RFK echo the concerns of other lawmakers and Kennedy family members alike as Carolina Kennedy also raised questions about her cousins' appointment.

He called on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions to decide whether Kennedy should be confirmed based on qualifications rather than politics before citing his previous claims about vaccines.

“Kennedy claims that ‘no vaccine is safe and effective. The evidence indicates that vaccines have saved the lives of 146 million young children in the past half-century,” Auchincloss wrote. “Measles, smallpox, diphtheria, mumps, pertussis, rubella, and polio used to infect hundreds of thousands of American children every year.”

RFK Jr. is currently on leave from his post as the Chairman of the Board of the Children’s Health Defense organization, which was founded to promote anti-vaccine efforts. He was heavily criticized for a documentary that spread false narratives about vaccines being linked to children with autism, among other things. 

“If Kennedy is charged with overseeing the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he will fuse his personal brand with organs of state to pump out quackery and conspiracy,” Auchincloss stated.

“Kennedy won’t only attack vaccines. Other targets include fluoride, which he pledges to 'remove from public water' although it has drastically improved children’s dental health; new medicines for cancer and Alzheimer’s, which he impugns as pharmaceutical poison; and high-speed internet, which he speculates causes 'leaky brain.'"

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) also condemned RFK Jr.’s nomination, claiming his leadership would take the country back to the 1700s, while others have raised concerns with LGBTQ healthcare as Republicans remain open to his stance on abortion rights.

Analysts say RFK Jr. would have a hard time taking vaccines completely off the market but he could repeal vaccine funding, legal protections and revoke recommendations.

“Chaos is what America will get unless Senate Republicans actually do speak truth to power,” Auchincloss concluded. “They must tell Trump that Kennedy is dangerous, and reject his Cabinet nomination.”