Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may be poised to play a key health care role in the next administration if Donald Trump is re-elected, according to two people close to the campaign and familiar with the plans.
The current thinking is that the former independent candidate’s role will be to lead what one of the people described as “Warp Speed for Childhood Chronic Disease,” referring to the title of Trump’s first-term Covid vaccine development project.
One of the sources said the irony was not lost, given Kennedy’s famous criticism of the Covid vaccine and other vaccines.
For example, Kennedy has repeatedly claimed this vaccines are linked to autismalthough numerous studies in several countries over the decades have disproved the association. concerns about the potential relationship between autism and the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine It went on for years after a document retracted in 1998 claimed a relationship.
A person familiar with the plans said the plans are still in flux and no decisions have been made, adding that there is significant common ground between the Trump campaign and Kennedy in preventing diseases such as childhood obesity and diabetes.
Obesity and diabetes are major problems in the United States Obesity affects approximately 15 million children. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; thousands of children and adolescents have type 2 diabetes, a condition linked to obesity, and their numbers are increasing. During the campaign, both Trump and Kennedy promoted the “Make America Healthy Again” movement.
Kennedy’s open critic Dr. Philadelphia Children’s Hospital vaccination specialist. Paul Offit said that despite the missteps, “Operation Blink Speed” was the administration’s “greatest achievement” under Trump.
However, he wasn’t sure how Warp Speed would apply to childhood chronic conditions or how it would benefit Kennedy.
“I think it’s his scientific denial makes him the wrong person for any kind of advancement,” Offit said.
In an interview Tuesday, former CDC Director Robert Redfield compared the project to President John. F. Kennedy’s promise to set foot on the moon.
“He didn’t know how it was going to work, but he believed it was possible and he made it happen,” Redfield told NBC News. “Sometimes seeing what’s possible and being a leader and moving a nation can make what many people think is impossible a reality.”
Trump campaign spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said in a statement that there are still “no official decisions” about positions in a potential administration, but that Trump is “relying on RFK Jr. to make America healthy again.” said that he will work together with passionate voices like end the chronic disease epidemic plaguing our families and children with safe food,” referring to type 2 diabetes.
“President Trump will also create a special presidential commission of independent thinkers to investigate the decades-long rise in chronic disease,” he said.
Kennedy recently claimed that Trump promised him “oversight of public health agencies,” including the Department of Health and Human Services and its subsidiaries — the CDC, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health. He will also be appointed to the Department of Agriculture, which Kennedy argued, “is the key to a healthy America.”
That’s not off base, according to one of the people familiar with the planning. If the plan moves forward, Kennedy’s mandate would be a “whole of government project,” giving him the ability to pool resources from all these agencies for chronic childhood disease. It’s unclear how the project will be paid for, although Operation Warp Speed, which ran from May 2020 to February 2021, had a slightly larger budget. $18 billion to develop Covid vaccinesfunded by the private sector and US taxpayers.
In a statement to NBC News, Kennedy said he was grateful to the former president “for his commitment to ending the chronic disease epidemic that now affects 50% of our children.”
“I stand ready to help him rid public health agencies of widespread conflict and corruption and restore traditions of gold-standard, evidence-based science,” he said.
Kennedy may also be interested in leading an agency like HHS or the CDC, but that would require Senate confirmation, which could be an uphill battle after Election Day depending on the partisan breakdown in the chamber.
Drew Altman, CEO of KFF, a nonpartisan group that researches health policy issues, said Kennedy’s anti-vaccination views and other controversial past positions could cause trouble there.
“I’m sure they want to avoid a showdown in the Senate and an ugly confirmation process,” he said.
Still to be determined, Altman said, is how much authority, if any, the Warp Speed role will give Kennedy to command agencies like the FDA or CDC. The role will be appointed by the president and will not require congressional approval, the source said. Altman was skeptical.
“It allows them to give him a position, a position that they promised him, as a reward for the many votes they get from welcoming him in line, but without any real power or authority for a major agency or department,” Altman said.
Kennedy is already meeting public health leaders from Trump’s world. It includes former HHS Secretary Eric Hargan and former CDC Director Robert Redfield — an unlikely alliance, given Kennedy’s repeated attacks on Redfield in his book.
Redfield, a former HIV researcher, led the CDC in the early days of the pandemic and was often criticized for misstepsincluding Controversial Covid testing rules.
Trump’s transition co-chairman, Howard Lutnick, also praised Kennedy in an interview with CNN on Wednesday night and questioned whether vaccines are truly safe.
Kennedy is also meeting with state agriculture leaders, such as Sidney Miller of Texas, because food will be a central focus for this possible initiative. According to one source, Russell Brand, a famous Kennedy ally, also participated in some of the meetings and conversations. Brand, who suffered health problems as a comic actor, has been accused of sexual harassment by four women. allegations he denies. Addiction and how it affects children and families is expected to be another priority, a pet issue for Brand, who is himself in recovery.