Nominated by Donald Trump to "give America back its health", Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defended his positions against vaccination on Wednesday, assuring that he was not "anti-vaccine", during his major speech before the Senate, responsible for confirming him as head of the Department of Health.
“There have been newspaper articles that claim I am anti-vaccine or anti-any other industry, when I am not and I am pro-safety,” he told members of the House Finance Committee during a tense hearing.
“You say one thing and then you say another. Today you deny under oath that you are against vaccines, but in a podcast interview in July 2023, you said, quote, ‘No vaccine is safe and effective,’” Democratic Senator Ron Wyden retorted.
Robert Kennedy Jr. has in recent years been the exponent of numerous conspiracy theories about Covid-19 vaccines and alleged links between vaccination and autism.
Insinuations denounced by his detractors, who also accuse him of having stirred up distrust of vaccination in the Samoan islands just before a measles epidemic occurred in 2019 and killed 83 people.
"Mr. Kennedy has embraced conspiracy theories, charlatans... He has made it his mission to sow doubt and discourage parents from vaccinating their children to save their lives," Mr. Wyden further lambasted.
– “Alarm signals” –
Particularly because of these past positions, RFK Jr.'s nomination has raised serious concerns among scientists and health professionals at a time when the circulation of the avian flu virus in the United States has revived fears of a pandemic.
"His position on many health issues goes against established scientific knowledge, and these are important warning signals," Syra Madad, an epidemiologist and member of the Harvard Belfer Center, insisted to AFP before the hearing.
The former Democrat, who recently joined Donald Trump, also promotes unpasteurized milk, so feared by health agencies, and calls for an end to the addition of fluoride to tap water, a practice considered a great health success in the fight against dental caries, but which divides the scientific community.
If confirmed as health secretary, the 71-year-old nephew of assassinated President JFK would lead a federal agency employing more than 80,000 people and responsible for the health of the country's more than 340 million people.
His criticism of American health agencies, which he accuses of corruption, also raises fears of a major reshuffle of the ministry if he were to be confirmed.
– Abortion –
The man who was once an independent candidate in the last American presidential election, before joining Donald Trump, could face opposition from senators from both camps, who are tasked with confirming him in his post.
The conservative association founded by Donald Trump's former vice-president, Mike Pence, has called on parliamentarians to reject his candidacy because of his positions, which it considers "pro-abortion".
Robert Kennedy Jr., who has had contradictory views on the subject, notably defending the idea that women should be able to abort their entire pregnancy, nevertheless assured Wednesday that he would support Donald Trump's opinion.
"I agree with President Trump that every abortion is a tragedy," he said, adding that the billionaire had asked him to re-evaluate the safety of mifepristone, a pill that is used in medical abortions in the United States when combined with another pill.
The septuagenarian could, however, obtain the support of certain Democratic senators thanks to his commitment to the fight against pesticides and for healthy eating.
RFK Jr. has vowed to "end the epidemic of chronic disease" and tackle the problem of obesity.
Aside from his positions, it is also his personality that is being debated after a series of sensational revelations. Addicted to heroin in his youth, the elusive member of the Kennedy dynasty recounted last year having abandoned the corpse of a teddy bear in Central Park in New York and having had to have a worm removed from his brain.
On the eve of his hearing, his cousin Caroline Kennedy urged senators in a letter to reject the nomination of the man she describes as a "predator."
"He liked to show how he put baby chickens and mice in a food processor to feed his falcons," she reports in this text.
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