If Trump puts RFK Jr in charge of health, get ready for a twisted reality, where the world’s health is.

The main figure in Donald Trump’s election campaign and a potential candidate for his next administration is Robert F. Kennedy Jr, or RFK Jr for short. After renouncing his behavior to the president, the prominent anti-vaxxer endorsed and campaigned for Trump, helping him win.

Kennedy promoted the banner “Make America Healthy Again” during the campaign. Now Trump has made it clear that Kennedy will play an important role in health.

He has been promised a “larger role” in guiding health policy, and Trump said he would enable Kennedy to “walk the walk” on health, food and medicine.

So, who is Kennedy, and what might his vision of a healthy America mean for public health in the US and around the world?

Who is RFK Jr.?

RFK Jr was born into a famous American political family. He is the son of Robert F. Kennedy, who served as the United States attorney general under his brother John F. Kennedy, who was president. At the time, Robert F. Kennedy was a senator before he was assassinated while running for the presidency in 1968.

His son, RFK Jr, was a prominent and successful environmental lawyer, helping to pursue cases against corporations, including Montsanto and DuPont.

However, over the past 20 years, he has become better known for espousing various conspiracy theories and as an important source of vaccine misinformation spread on social media.

Kennedy recently said “he will not deprive anyone of vaccines”. However, he continues to make false claims about COVID vaccines, and promote misinformation about vaccines and autism when there is scientific consensus there is no causal link.

What role will you play?

Although Trump has publicly pledged that Kennedy has a major role, it is unclear what that will be.

Based on a video obtained by Politico, Kennedy said he was entrusted with oversight of federal public health agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services and its subsidiaries, as well as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Disease Control and Prevention, Food and Drug Administration, Public Health Organizations.

Such a broad authority would not have existed before. Appointments to major agency and cabinet positions in the US government require approval by Congress. Kennedy’s lack of experience in health care or public health, and his lack of professional training and credentials, would make such approval dubious. His unscientific claims would resurface and there would be a bit of a media circus.

Even if Kennedy were in power, many changes to these federal agencies would require Congressional attention. For example, any changes to how drugs are approved can be challenging to implement in the short term.

This is not to underestimate the damage Kennedy could do. In the past, Trump avoided the approval of Congress for various activities by appointing “officials”. So even without any official post, Kennedy’s potential influence on the Trump administration is alarming.

Some wrong information

It’s no wonder Trump hailed Kennedy as the “health king” of his second presidency. Both have spread COVID misinformation and recommended unproven treatments, especially early in the epidemic. These include recommending hydrocholoroquine (when there is strong evidence of its toxic effects on the heart).

Kennedy uses scientific language to convey hope. He promises to return health care organizations to their “rich, high-quality, evidence-based science” and to “clean up” organizations he accuses of corruption. He may roll back regulatory controls that protect the health of Americans from unproven treatments.

If Kennedy becomes Trump’s presidential health chief, his platform for recruiting Americans to his anti-science agenda will be greatly enhanced. The result? A real wake-up call to worsen public health.

Outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases, such as measles, will increase.

Many Americans have also grown up with fluoridated water and have not seen the effects of tooth decay (tooth decay). Thus, Kennedy would have been well placed to convince the American people that fluoridated water is dangerous, and that fluoride should be a personal choice.

Governments and public health officials may face an uphill battle to keep fluoride in public water supplies, reversing one of the greatest public health achievements of the past century .

If Kennedy’s anti-science claims succeed, his legacy will be the opposite of the “Make America Healthy Again” banner. The health of the American population will deteriorate with significant consequences in the coming decades.

There are global implications as well

The potential dangers of elevating someone like Kennedy to positions of authority and influence will not only affect Americans.

For example, after Kennedy and his anti-vaccination movement visited Samoa in 2019, the deaths of two children were falsely attributed to the measles vaccine. The vaccination rate in Samoa dropped to 31% (half of the previous rate) and the subsequent outbreak of measles killed 83 people.

Kennedy questioned whether the deaths were related to a “flawed vaccine” and denied that he had a hand in spreading the false news.

One of the most notable achievements of Trump’s previous presidency was Operation Warp Speed, which facilitated the development, testing and mass production of COVID vaccines at an unprecedented speed, saving millions of lives. many around the world.

If another epidemic occurs in the next four years, with Kennedy in the White House, the US is unlikely to provide the same leadership.

Kennedy has been highly critical of the development of a COVID vaccine, including in his 2021 best-selling book, The Real Anthony Fauci, about the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Kennedy says that COVID vaccines have not been adequately tested and continues to advocate for unproven COVID treatments, particularly hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin.

In a podcast earlier this year, Fauci recalled a suggestion Kennedy made to him about vaccines. At 40 minutes Kennedy “showed slide after slide […] it made no sense at all”.

Later, Fauci told Kennedy:

Bobby, I believe you care about the children and you don’t want to hurt them. But you should realize that from a scientific point of view, what you are saying makes no sense.

Unfortunately, in the twisted reality of the Trump administration with Kennedy at his side, truth and science may not matter. And the health of the world will be destroyed.