President-elect Trump’s choice of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health secretary sparked a wide range of reaction in Massachusetts. Some see it as a problematic step in the nation’s future, but others are looking forward to him shaking up norms around vaccines.
Plus, analysis from political commentator Sue O’Connell on why Mike Pence, Trump’s former vice president, opposes Kennedy’s nomination.
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President-elect Donald Trump's unorthodox pick for health and human services secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has drawn a range of pushback from Massachusetts' top elected leaders.
Kennedy is the latest in a string of eyebrow raising picks from Trump, including Matt Gaetz for attorney general and Fox News host Pete Hegseth for defense secretary. They have drawn skepticism from Republicans and Democrats alike.
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“I have concerns about it, obviously, based on the positions he’s taken,” Gov. Maura Healey told reporters Friday, after speaking at the presidential library of Kennedy's uncle, John F. Kennedy, in Boston.
The state's U.S. senators, who will vote on Trump's Cabinet appointees, were less measured about the choice of a man who has long questioned the efficacy of vaccines and the fluoridation of water, both of which are among the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's top health advancements of the 20th Century for safely and effectively improving and saving lives. (A flawed study linking vaccines to autism was later retracted, but not before sparking a surge in vaccine skepticism; the study's findings haven't been replicated.)
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"Donald Trump’s appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. poses a danger to public health, scientific research, medicine, and health care coverage for millions of Americans. RFK Jr. wants to stop parents from protecting their babies from measles and his ideas would welcome the return of polio. He has spread conspiracy theories on everything from COVID to mass shootings. I will have a lot of questions about Mr. Kennedy’s fitness to serve as health secretary when he appears before the Finance Committee," Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in a statement.
"Dangerous. Unqualified. Unserious," Sen. Ed. Markey said on social media.
Kennedy supporters, like political commentator Katherine Loftus, say he’s the right choice to lead the nation into a new age of health care.
“He has no intention, no goals to take away vaccines,” she said. “What he wants to prioritize is everyone having informed consent.”
Loftus said that if a person simply asks questions about the status quo in health care, “you shouldn’t be made to feel like you’re a conspiracy theorist or a problem.”
A prominent national Democrat, Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, seemed to back Kennedy after Trump's announcement, writing on X, “he helped us defeated vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019 and will help make America healthy again by shaking up HHS and FDA.”
Kennedy responded in the comments, “I look forward to working with you. Let’s Make America Healthy Again.” The final four words have become his slogan, a twist on Trump's Make America Great Again.
But Polis followed up his initial message with one saying, "science must remain THE cornerstone of our nation’s health policy," and adding that he and his family are vaccinated.
Healey said Massachusetts will maintain its commitment to the public health standards currently in place.
“Whether that’s vaccines, fluoride, what have you — we need to make sure we do that as a state. We’ll see what happens,” Healey said.
