Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as the nation’s top health official Thursday in the Oval Office, completing an improbable arc for the anti-vaccine activist and one-time Democratic presidential candidate.
President Trump welcomed Kennedy, praising him for bringing a diverse coalition of support with him when he dropped his presidential bid to join forces with the president.
“He really worked very hard, and he had tremendous support, unbelievable support. And I think a lot of that support came my way when we decided to do a merger,” Trump said. “And it was really great. And it was very loyal, very loyal, incredible people.”
Trump then signed an executive order establishing a new commission to “Make America Healthy Again” with Kennedy as the chair. The commission will investigate the cause of the decades-long increase in childhood chronic illness, Trump said.
“He’s absolutely committed to getting dangerous chemicals out of our environment and out of our food supply, and getting the American people the facts and the answers that we deserve after years in which our public health system has squandered the trust of our citizens,” Trump said.
Kennedy was sworn in by Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch. He was joined in the Oval Office by his wife, Cheryl Hines, and other family members, along with Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-Ga.), Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.).
Marshall is the founder of the Senate’s Make America Healthy Again caucus.
Kennedy vowed to implement an aggressive agenda focused on “radical transparency” and “ending the corruption” of health agencies.
“Our plans are radical transparency and returning gold standard science [to] NIH, the FDA and CDC, and ending the corruption, ending the corporate capture [of] those agencies, getting rid of the people on those panels that have conflicts of interest,” Kennedy said. “We can do unadorned and unimpeded science rather than the kind of product that is coming out of those agencies.”
The Department of Health and Human Services oversees 13 separate agencies, and Kennedy has long argued they are in desperate need of reform.
Last year, he promised to fire 600 employees at the National Institutes of Health, the nation’s largest funder of biomedical research.
In a post on X in October, ahead of the election, Kennedy vowed a shakeup of the “corrupt” Food and Drug Administration.
“If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags,” he wrote.
Kennedy was confirmed by the Senate by a 52-48 vote earlier Thursday following months of debate about his qualifications. Kennedy’s confirmation served as a significant test of the Republican Party’s loyalty to President Trump.
The founder of one of the country’s most prominent anti-vaccine groups will now run the nation’s vaccine policy, which is just one part of the nearly $2 trillion federal health portfolio.
Only Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) cast a GOP vote against Kennedy’s confirmation, after previously bucking his party on Trump’s Defense secretary and national intelligence director.
Kennedy on Thursday again denied he was anti-vaccine, only pro-safety.
“Vaccines should be tested, they should be safe. Everybody should have informed consent,” Kennedy said.
