New York – President Elect Donald Trump says he will nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services, putting a man whose views public health officials have condemned as dangerous at the helm of a massive agency that oversees everything , from drugs, vaccines and food safety to medical research and the Medicare and Medicaid social safety net programs.

“For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and pharmaceutical companies that have engaged in deception, misinformation and disinformation when it comes to public health,” Trump said Thursday in a post on the website his Truth Social who announced the appointment. Kennedy, he said, would “end the chronic disease epidemic” and “Make America great and healthy again!”

Kennedy is one of leading anti-vaccine activists in the world and has advanced a long time disproves the idea that vaccines cause autism and other health problems.

Trump also announced Thursday that he has tapped Doug Collins, a former congressman from Georgia, to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs. Collins is a chaplain in the US Air Force Reserve Command. The Republican served in Congress from 2013 to 2021 and helped defend Trump during his first impeachment trial.

Coming from one of the nation’s most famous political families, Kennedy is the son of the late Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy and the grandson of President John F. Kennedy. He first challenged President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination last year. He then ran as an independent before dropping the bid after striking a deal to give Trump his support with the promise of a role overseeing health policy in a second Trump administration.

He and the president-elect have since become good friends. The two campaigned extensively together in the final stretch of the race, and Trump has made it clear that he intends to give Kennedy a major role in overseeing public health as part of his “Make America Healthy Again” campaign.

“I’m going to let him run wild because of his health,” Trump said at a rally last month.

During his victory speech in Palm Beach, Florida, last week, Trump exclaimed, “Go have fun, Bobby!”

However, it was not clear exactly what position he would be offered. In an October interview with CNN, Trump’s transition co-chairman, Howard Lutnick, assured that Kennedy would not get the job he did.

The appointment has drawn alarm from public health experts.

“Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., is not remotely qualified for this role and should be nowhere near the science-based agencies that protect our nutrition, food safety and health,” said Dr. Peter Lurie, the body’s chairman of public health surveillance. group Center for Science in the Public Interest.

Dr. Mandy Cohen, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told The Associated Press: “I don’t want to go back and see children or adults suffer or lose their lives to remind us that vaccines work and they do. in question.”

“Any misinformation that comes from places of influence, of power, is troubling,” she said.

During the campaign, Kennedy told NewsNation that Trump asked him to “reorganize” agencies, including the CDC, the National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration.

Kennedy pushed against processed foods and the use of herbicides such as Roundup herbicides. He has long criticized the large commercial farms and animal feeding operations that dominate the industry.

But he is perhaps best known for his criticism of childhood vaccines.

Time and time again, Kennedy has made his opposition to vaccines clear. In July, he said in a podcast interview that “There is no safe and effective vaccine” and told FOX News that he still believes in idea long since dismantled that vaccines can cause autism.

In a 2021 podcast, he urged people to “resist” CDC guidelines advising when children should receive routine vaccinations.

“I see someone on a hiking trail carrying a small child and I say, ‘You better not vaccinate him,'” Kennedy said.

Repeated scientific studies in the US and abroad have found no link between vaccines and autism. Vaccines have been proven safe and effective in laboratory tests and in real-world use on hundreds of millions of people over decades. The World Health Organization attributes childhood vaccines preventing 5 million deaths per year

During his first term, Trump launched Operation Warp Speed, an effort to speed up the production and distribution of a vaccine to combat COVID-19. The resulting vaccines have been widely credited, including by Trump himself, with saving many lives.

Trump, in his announcement, said that under Kennedy’s leadership, HHS will “play an important role in ensuring that everyone is protected from the harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceuticals and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming crisis of health in this country.” But HHS does not have jurisdiction over many of these issues, which fall under the purview of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Agriculture.

Kennedy is a lawyer who has built a loyal following over decades of people who admire his lawsuits against big pesticide and pharmaceutical companies. He pushed for stricter regulations on food ingredients.

With Trump’s campaign, he has worked to support young mothers in particular with his message to make food healthier in the US, promising to model regulations after those imposed in Europe. In a nod to Trump’s original campaign slogan, he called the effort “Make America Healthy Again.”

It remains unclear how that will mesh with Trump’s history of deregulating major industries, including food. Trump has pushed for fewer inspections of the meat industry, for example.

Kennedy’s stance on vaccines raises questions about his ability to be confirmed, even in a GOP-controlled Senate.

He also said he would recommend removing fluoride from drinking water, although fluoride levels are mandated by state and local governments. The addition of the material has been cited as leading to improved dental health and is considered safe at low levels.

He said he would try to ban certain food additives, eliminating substances such as food dyes and preservatives that are regulated by the Food and Drug Administration. He also targeted pesticides, which are jointly regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency and the FDA.

Kennedy has also attracted headlines for his history with wildlife. He admitted to dumping a dead bear in New York’s Central Park — laying it out as if it had been hit by a bicycle — and found himself the subject of a federal lawsuit. probe after his daughter revealed that he cut off the head of a beached whale and tied it to the roof of his car to take it home.

HHS has more than 80,000 employees across the country. Kennedy promised to take a hard look at those who work for HHS and its agencies, including the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the CDC.

He said he is particularly focused on ending the “revolving door” of employees who have a history of working for pharmaceutical companies or leave government service to work for that industry, his former campaign communications manager told the AP , Del Bigtree. month. Bigtree is also an anti-vaccine organizer.

Kennedy said he wants to lay off 600 employees at the National Institutes of Health, which oversees vaccine research.

The expected appointment was first reported by Politico on Thursday.

Kennedy’s anti-vaccine nonprofit group, Children’s Health Defense, currently has a lawsuit pending against several news organizations, including The Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking steps to identify false information. , including about COVID-19 and COVID-19. 19 vaccines. Kennedy took a leave of absence from the group when he announced his candidacy for president, but is listed as one of its attorneys in the lawsuit.

Trump also announced Thursday that he will nominate Jay Clayton, who served as chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission during his first term, to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.