'Would be disastrous': Doctors raise red flag over Trump's potential health appointee
The New York Times has done a deep dive into the medical beliefs of anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist and newly minted Trump ally Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and has found many medical officials are raising major red flags about his potential appointment to a public health position.
Among other things, notes the Times, Kennedy in the past has suggested that "H.I.V. is not the true cause of AIDS, that 5G networks are being used for mass surveillance and that Black Americans in particular should avoid being vaccinated."
These views make it unlikely that Kennedy would survive a Senate confirmation hearing for a position such as secretary of the Health and Human Services Department, but Trump could still find a place to stash Kennedy on a domestic policy council that wouldn't require any input from Congress.
Dr. Richard Allen Williams, a cardiologist and the president of the Minority Health Institute, told the Times that Kennedy is akin to a "magician" in the way he gets uninformed Americans to buy into quack health science.
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He added that giving Kennedy a prominent platform in this area would make him even more dangerous.
“The public is what I would call the proverbial chicken house, and I look at RFK Jr. as a fox,” Williams explained. “He’s looking for a way in — to gain control. That would be disastrous."
Dr. James Campbell, an infectious disease physician and pediatric vaccine expert at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, spoke in more measured terms about Kennedy, but nonetheless expressed fears about his potential impact on childhood vaccination programs.
“For elected officials — or the people who are advising or are appointed by elected officials — we want to make sure they have the best interest of families and children at heart,” he said. “My knowledge of statements made in the past — they make me concerned.”