After ending his 2024 presidential campaign, anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. endorsed Donald Trump. RFK Jr.'s supporters have been hoping that if Trump won the election, he would offer Kennedy a major position — perhaps at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
But Trump's team, according to the Telegraph in the U.K., seems to be "quietly distancing itself" from Kennedy following some anti-vaccine remarks he made during an interview with NBC News after President-elect Trump's decisive victory over Vice President Kamala Harris.
"Mr. Kennedy had previously said that Mr. Trump had 'promised' him control of the Department of Health and Human Services and public health agencies like the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)," the Telegraph's Benedict Smith reports. "However, there is disquiet in the Trump team about media attention on the former independent candidate after he was pressed in a post-election interview with NBC about his vaccine skepticism."
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RFK Jr., during the interview, insisted, "We're not going to take vaccines away from anybody" but claimed there were "huge deficits" in vaccine safety.
"If handed control of the public health agencies by Mr. Trump," Smith notes. "Mr. Kennedy said on Wednesday he planned to clear out 'entire department'…. He added that he could not eliminate public health agencies altogether without congressional approval, but would seek to root out 'corruption' in those bodies."
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Read the Telegraph's full report at this link.