Alarm grows over possible RFK Jr. role at HHS if Trump wins

The possibility of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. becoming Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary if former President Trump wins has rankled Democrats and the public health community as he gains influence within the former president’s transition team. 

Speculation about Kennedy’s future role has grown after Nicole Shanahan, who was Kennedy’s running mate before he suspended his campaign last month, said recently that he would do “an incredible job” at HHS should Trump win in November.

While the former president has not said what, if any, Cabinet position he would offer Kennedy, the prospect of the former independent candidate taking the reins of HHS is already drawing pushback from health experts critical of Kennedy’s anti-vaccine rhetoric.

“We can only hope that he will have no position in the administration, because someone who thinks like that, who just has these beliefs that are immutable no matter how much evidence is against them, is not the kind of person you want in a position of authority,” said Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

Shanahan sparked talk of a possible HHS secretary role for Kennedy during a recent conversation on a podcast with nutrition entrepreneur Tom Bilyeu.