The announcement that President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be the new leader of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has brought renewed attention to many of the comments the candidate has made about public health.

Kennedy was announced as Trump’s choice on November 14. If confirmed by the US Senate, he will lead a department that oversees countless agencies that regulate important public health programs and conduct scientific research. The list includes the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That means Kennedy could have a hand in drug and vaccine approvals, food safety and more, issues that touch virtually everyone.

Many of Kennedy’s views on health issues are contrary to decades of research and a broad scientific and medical consensus, yet he has gained a public audience. Here’s a look at the established science behind some of the key issues Kennedy has raised in the past that could be affected by the new administration.

Fact: Vaccines save lives

Kennedy is a dominant force in the anti-vaccine movement (SN: 5/11/21). He told podcaster Lex Fridman in a July 2023 interview, “There is no vaccine that is safe and effective.”

It is not true. In terms of effectiveness, the World Health Organization says: “vaccines have saved many human lives than any other medical invention in history”—praise that is supported by ample evidence.

In the United States, a number of infectious diseases, including polio, diphtheria, measles, and smallpox, caused hundreds of thousands of cases of illness in the 20th century. By the end of that century, cases dropped by 95 to 100 percentprimarily due to the widespread introduction of vaccines.

During the coronavirus pandemic, the COVID-19 vaccination prevented 14.4 million deaths globally in the first year it was available, from December 2020 to December 2021, researchers reported in Lancet Infectious Diseases in 2022.

And the research on the beneficial impact of vaccines keeps coming. Since 1974, vaccination against 14 pathogens prevented 154 million deaths worldwide, most among children: Immunization averted 146 million deaths among children under 5, researchers report in Lancet in May.

In the United States, routine immunizations for children born between 1994 and 2023 will have prevented about 508 million cases of illness, stopped 32 million hospitalizations and prevented 1.1 million child deaths, CDC researchers reported. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report in August.

The spread of misinformation and misinformation about vaccine safety has a long history, but now reach a lot more people through social networks (SN: 11/11/21). Kennedy’s Instagram account was removed from 2021 to 2023 for posting false claims about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines. Common misinformation about vaccine safety was disproved by a large body of evidence. For example, vaccines do not diminish the body’s ability to mount an immune response.

Vaccines are tested on humans for safety and effectiveness before being approved by the FDA. After approval, several national surveillance systems continue to monitor vaccine safety.

“Vaccines are the safest and most cost-effective way to protect children, families and communities from disease, disability and death,” Benjamin Hoffman, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said in a Nov. 15 statement.

Fact: The measles vaccine does not cause autism

Anti-vaccine advocates, including Kennedy, continue to promote the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism. A work published in 1998 in Lancet claimed to find a link between the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine and autism. The paper, based on falsified data, was later retracted, but the damage was doneand the idea that vaccines in general could cause autism gained momentum (SN: 5/11/21).

The science is settled: it exists no evidence which suggests that vaccines – or any of their ingredients – cause autism spectrum disorders.

Causes of autism are not knownbut they are likely complex (SN: 16/10/18; SN: 29/07/11). Current thinking focuses on differences in brain development early in life, perhaps even in the womb. Scientists are exploring genetic differences and differences in how neurons grow possible links and investigate ways to look for the disorder early in life (SN: 27/02/14; SN: 1/11/19; SN: 4/10/17).

Fact: Fluoride in water strengthens teeth

Earlier this month, Kennedy announced his goal to eliminate fluoride from drinking water.

A natural mineral, fluoride has a special superpower: it can rebuild teeth. When acid from bacteria eats away at tooth enamel, fluoride can break the gap and attract other powerful minerals, such as calcium and phosphate, to latch on. This process, called remineralization, keeps cavities at bay.

That’s why fluoride has been added to water supplies in the United States since the 1940s—a move described in 1999 by the CDC as one of 10 Great Public Health Achievements of the 20th century.

Kennedy and other fluoride skeptics argue that the mineral harms children’s growing brains. And in large doses, it can. There have been reports of fluoride toxicity from all over the world. But as they say, the dose makes the poison. In the United States, the optimal dose of fluoride is set at 0.7 milligrams per liter of water, well below levels that have been linked to harm.

Some communities that have removed fluoride from municipal water supplies have seen an increase in tooth decay. In Canada, children in Calgary, where fluoridation was stopped in 2011, had more degradation than neighboring children in Edmonton, where fluoride remained in the water. Similar trends of more dental caries appeared Israelwhich stopped fluoridating water in 2014, and in JuneauAlaska, where fluoridation was stopped in 2007.

Cavities can lead to pain, problems speaking and eating, social and psychological harm. Untreated tooth decay in children and adults can cause death. Fluoridated water is supported by medical organizations including the World Health Organization, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Dental Association.

Fact: Germs in raw milk can make people sick

In an Oct. 25 post on X, Kennedy accused the FDA of “aggressively suppressing” a list of substances, one of which is raw milk.

Raw milk was not pasteurizeda process that heat-treats food to kill harmful microbes (SN: 18/11/22). Proponents list a variety of reasons for drinking raw milk, including the claim that some bacteria in raw milk may be beneficial for gut health. But those bacteria come from cows or the farm environment, and only microbes that come from humans can be an asset to our health.

Pasteurizing to kill the bad stuff is key food safetyaccording to both the FDA and the CDC. People who drink raw milk could be exposed to food-borne bacteria such as E. coli, Salmonella and Listerall of these can cause severe illness.

In addition, genetic traces of avian influenza appeared in milk in the middle of a outbreak in US dairy cows (SN: 25/04/24). While pasteurization kills the virus, it could remain in the raw milk and pose a risk of infection. Mice that consume virus-spiked milk can become infected with bird flu, for example, suggesting that humans may also be at risk.

Fact: Hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin do not treat COVID-19

Hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, two drugs that gained notoriety during the COVID-19 pandemic, were also listed in Kennedy’s Oct. 25 X post. While early studies done on cells in raised vessels hopes the treatments could help COVID patientscountless studies have since shown that hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug, and ivermectin, an antiparasitic, are ineffective against the coronavirus (SN: 8/2/20).

Despite the overwhelming evidence against the drug for COVID, some people, including Kennedy, continue to falsely claim that it could have saved lives during the pandemic. In a July 2023 Fox News interviewKennedy said fewer people would have died if hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin had been available to treat COVID. The FDA authorized hydroxychloroquine for emergency use in the early days of the pandemic. But the agency withdrew that authorization because studies showed it was no better than a placebo at preventing or alleviating disease (SN: 15/06/2020).