By Cianan Sheekey
The US Department of Health and Human Services is a nearly $2 trillion agency, involved in the running of federal health programs, medical regulations, and vaccine approvals. It is central to healthcare in the US, serving as the umpire of the private sector which has proven so detrimental to the American people. It is one of the most crucial positions in any President’s cabinet, as it will be for President-elect Trump. The man he has nominated for this role is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., or RFK for short. Nephew of John F. Kennedy, the Cold War President famed for his impeccable handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis and his assassination in 1963, RFK has spent most of his life as an environmental lawyer, fighting corporations which illegally exploit the natural world for their capitalist gains. Consideration of whether the Senate should approve Trump’s nomination of RFK to cabinet will not, however, focus on these factors, but rather on the former independent presidential candidates avid anti-vaccine rhetoric, remarking in a 2023 interview: “there’s no vaccine that is safe and effective”. Yet, Trump has persisted, insisting this is the man who will “Make America Healthy Again”, despite his consistent denial of empirical scientific fact.
RFK, to his credit, does have some bright, pulsating ideas for US healthcare. He has vowed to place strict regulations on ultra-processed foods, specifically focusing on the obesity-stimulating fast food chains oversaturating the American diet. The industrial food complex has, for far too long, been answerable to nought, and moving in a more regulated direction will help reign in the capacity of food conglomerates to deceive, misinform and disinform. Additionally, Trump has insisted Kennedy is free to “go wild” when it comes to supervising US drug companies, which are heavily associated with dishonest, greedy, often malicious practices, all for the sake of a larger bottom line. For non-Americans it is easy to suggest eroding the significance of capital greed in US healthcare is a day late and a dollar short, but this is undeniably the correct direction, improving the ethics and morality of healthcare institutions through strict legal supervision.
"Kennedy will either be the man to begin the reconstruction of the ruins of US medical provision or the man who destroys public health forever with self-detrimental anti-vaccination ideals only further plaguing a shattered system."
“People will die!” former New York Mayor Bill De Blasio exclaimed on CNN in reference to Kennedy’s prospective cabinet role. His nomination has generated what can only be described as a storm of crazed fear. The bafflement and terror is well summarised by Democratic Congressman Robert Garcia: “[Kennedy’s nomination is] f****** insane”. Medical professionals have insisted that RFK’s consistent peddling of misinformation will only deteriorate the nation’s capacity to prevent and fight disease. To further divert Americans and their families away from vaccinations only risks an epidemic, unwisely promoting the return of diseases almost eradicated by vaccination programmes.
Kennedy has not been under flack solely for his stance on vaccines, with it being suggested he may be lacking any kind of political soul. That is to say, he abandoned his independent campaign for the presidency this year because Trump offered him a deal to become a cabinet member if he instead backed the MAGA movement. Although Kennedy was certainly not going to win The White House, it speaks volumes to his temperament and moral compass: he is a man who would turn away from his platform of environmentalism towards a candidate who has long been associated with climate scepticism, all for the sake of a government job.
Kennedy’s supporters would suggest that maybe it is better to accept the flaws of Trump, and at least use the platform the American people have granted him to better regulate healthcare corporations. The regulatory nature of RFK’s perspective term as Secretary of Health has been expanded to serve as his defence for his anti-vaccine position, with Kennedy suggesting he does not wish to discourage or outlaw their production, instead focusing on enhanced regulations for these processes. This position feels like a cop-out to avoid media backlash: why would a man who promoted the bogus claim that vaccines cause autism want to merely regulate vaccines?
American healthcare is in a dire state. The aforementioned untouchability of corporations, alongside high costs, disgraceful access inequitable, poor outcomes and reliance upon nefarious insurance companies to cover the necessity of medical treatment paint a picture of a system that is utterly dysfunctional, and frankly barbaric. A direction that opposes the whim of self-interested private actors in favour of US citizens is a desperately needed change, it is just a shame this direction also involves anti-scientific conspiracy encouraging epidemics and suffering. Kennedy will either be the man to begin the reconstruction of the ruins of US medical provision or the man who destroys public health forever with self-detrimental anti-vaccination ideals only further plaguing a shattered system.
Image: Flickr
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