WASHINGTON — President-elect Donald Trump said he is tapping Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to run the Department of Health and Human Services, a move that would elevate a prominent vaccine skeptic and pharmaceutical industry critic to a top role on federal health policy.

“The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration, and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country,” Trump said in a statement Thursday on his Truth Social platform.

“Mr. Kennedy will restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!,” he added.

Kennedy has espoused a number of unorthodox views on public health, most notably questioning the safety and efficacy of vaccines — statements which contradict guidance from the mainstream medical community.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, he called the shots a “crime against humanity” and compared them to the Nazi Holocaust. Those remarks drew widespread condemnation — including from his wife, the actress Cheryl Hines.

He also has said that he will work with Trump to remove fluoride from water systems — upending 80 years of public health consensus.

Kennedy’s views are likely to set him up for a blistering U.S. Senate confirmation hearing putting his beliefs under scrutiny. If confirmed, he would wield unprecedented influence over public health, drugs, food and nutrition — with the potential to disrupt related industries — as a member of an administration that has vowed to reshape the federal government.

Shares of vaccine makers Moderna Inc., Pfizer Inc. and Novavax Inc. dropped after news of Trump’s decision was first reported.

Kennedy is the scion of a prominent Democratic family but left the party to mount an independent presidential bid this cycle before eventually endorsing Trump. He criss-crossed the country to help elect the president-elect, appearing at rallies and events and helping him broaden his outreach to independent voters.

The selection of Kennedy to the top health policy job in the administration seals a political marriage of convenience between two former rivals. In the waning days of the campaign, Trump said he would let Kennedy “go wild” on health, adapting his signature campaign slogan to declare that he would “Make America Healthy Again.”

The week before the election, Kennedy said Trump had promised him “control of the public health agencies.”

Influential post

As head of HHS, Kennedy would lead a sprawling federal department that entails more than 100 programs supporting medicine, public health and social services, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the Food and Drug Administration.

HHS was on the frontlines of the federal response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with Trump’s management of the outbreak during his first term drawing sharp criticism, including from those who accuse him of downplaying its severity.

Overseeing the agency would put Kennedy at the forefront of some of the most contentious policy debates surrounding the incoming administration — including abortion rights and health insurance.

On health care, Trump has floated seeking an alternative to the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as Obamacare. The president-elect has denied wanting to end the program but has not provided specifics on how he might revise or replace the law, saying during the debate that he had the “concepts of a plan.”

Trump’s HHS secretaries during his first term included among others, Tom Price, who resigned after criticism over taxpayer-funded air travel, and Alex Azar who split with Trump over the attack on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

Scandalous headlines

In addition to his controversial views, Kennedy’s presidential campaign was barraged by a series of scandalous tabloid headlines: The disposal of a bear carcass in New York City’s Central Park, an escapade involving a beached whale and a chainsaw.

Kennedy, 70, is the son of former Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy.

Both men were assassinated in the 1960s, and Trump has also promised a commission on presidential assassinations to re-open those cases.

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(With assistance from Gerry Smith, Hadriana Lowenkron and Akayla Gardner.)

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