Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed on Thursday as Secretary of Health by the United States Senate with 52 votes in favor and 48 against
Text: Voa
The United States Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health of the Trump Administration. Considered a defender of the vision of “making the US once again healthy”, Kennedy will take control of 1.7 billion dollars in federal expenses, vaccine recommendations and food safety, as well as medical insurance programs for approximately half of the country.
The Republicans supported Kennedy despite doubts about Kennedy’s opinions about vaccines, voting 52-48 to raise the descendant of one of the political families-and most historical-most historical in the United States to Secretary of the Department of Health and Services Humans
The senator by Kentucky Mitch McConnell, who had polio as a child, was the only vote for the “no” among the Republicans, reflecting his positions against the Trump elections for head of the Pentagon and director of National Intelligence.
All Democrats opposed Kennedy. The Republican Party has largely adopted Kennedy’s vision of “making the United States again healthy” by ordering public health agencies that focus on chronic diseases such as obesity.
Kennedy, 71, whose name and family tragedies have placed him at the National Center of Attention since he was a child, has earned a formidable number of followers with his opinions about food, chemicals and vaccines.
*Also read: Trump designates Robert Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health
His audience only grew during the Covid-19 pandemic, when Kennedy dedicated much of his time to a non-profit organization that demanded vaccine manufacturers and took advantage of campaigns in social networks to erode confidence in vaccines, as well as in the government agencies that promote them.
With Trump’s support, Kennedy insisted that he was “in a unique position” to revive confidence in those public health agencies, which include food and medication administration (FDA), the centers for control and prevention of diseases (CDC) and the National Health Institutes (NIH).
Last week, Republican Senator Thom Tillis, from North Carolina, said he expected Kennedy “to go crazy” for controlling the costs of medical care and improving the health of Americans. But before accepting support Kennedy, Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican by Louisiana and a doctor who heads the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, demanded guarantees that Kennedy would not make changes in the existing recommendations on vaccines.
During the Senate audiences, the Democrats tried to press Kennedy to deny a discredited theory for a long time for vaccines to cause autism. Some legislators also alerted about the economic benefits that Kennedy could obtain by changing vaccination guidelines or weakening federal protections against vaccine manufacturers.
Kennedy won more than $ 850,000 last year thanks to an agreement that derived customers to a law firm that has sued Gardasil manufacturers, a human papillomavirus vaccine that protects against cervical cancer. If he is confirmed as Secretary of Health, he promised to redirect the fees raised from the agreement to his son.
Kennedy will assume control of the agency in the midst of a massive reorganization of the federal government, led by billionaire Elon Musk, who has cut, even temporarily, billions of dollars of taxpayers in public health funds and has left thousands of insecure federal workers about their work.
On Friday, NIH announced that it would limit billions of dollars that are destined for medical research and cancer and that are destined to universities to develop treatments for diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s. Kennedy has also requested a restructuring of NIH staff, FDA and CDC. Last year, he promised to fire 600 NIH employees, the country’s largest financier in the country.
*Journalism in Venezuela is exercised in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments arranged for the punishment of the word, especially the laws “against hatred”, “against fascism” and “against blockade.” This content is being published taking into account the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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