Donald Trump appoints vaccine-sceptic Robert F Kennedy Jr to top health role

Mr Kennedy ran for president successful this year's predetermination arsenic an autarkic earlier dropping retired successful August and endorsing Trump successful speech for a relation successful the Republican's administration.

The pick, if approved, would mean helium is successful complaint of the country’s apical wellness agency.

Announcing the quality connected societal media, Trump said: "The Safety and Health of each Americans is the astir important relation of immoderate Administration, and HHS volition play a large relation successful helping guarantee that everybody volition beryllium protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and nutrient additives that person contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis successful this Country.

The Department of Health and Human Services oversees galore of the US’ biggest wellness programmes and schemes including the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and the monolithic Medicare and Medicaid Services programs, which supply wellness sum for the poor, those aged 65 and older, and the disabled.

Medicaid and Medicare's tens of millions of enrollees mean HHS had a $3.09 trillion fund for fiscal year 

But helium has successful caller weeks attempted to enactment backmost from those positions, saying helium is not going to instrumentality vaccines distant from the American public.

In a caller interrogation with MSNBC, helium said: “I’m going to marque definite technological information studies and efficacy are retired there, and radical tin marque idiosyncratic assessments astir whether that merchandise is going to beryllium bully for them.”

He has claimed his priorities see addressing what helium calls the "chronic illness epidemic" of conditions including obesity, diabetes and autism, and reducing chemicals successful food.

But helium is apt to look terrible absorption implicit erstwhile proposals to gut the 18,000-employee Food and Drug Administration - which ensures the information of food, drugs and aesculapian devices - and regenerate hundreds of employees astatine the National Institutes of Health.

"FDA's warfare connected nationalist wellness is astir to end," helium wrote connected X successful precocious October, adding that includes its "aggressive suppression" of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, earthy milk, sunshine, and different items.

"If you enactment for the FDA and are portion of this corrupt system, I person 2 messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags," helium wrote.

In aboriginal November, helium said helium would urge fluoride beryllium removed from nationalist h2o supplies, falsely claiming connected X that the chemic is associated with bony fractures and cancer. 

Mr Kennedy, who archetypal sought the Democratic information earlier becoming an independent, had a rocky statesmanlike tally marked by attention-grabbing media headlines.

During his campaign, helium acknowledged successful a video posted online that helium dumped a dormant carnivore successful New York City's Central Park a decennary agone and staged it to look similar a motorcycle had deed it. 

He proclaimed helium had "so galore skeletons successful my closet" aft a erstwhile household babysitter accused him of intersexual assault. He denied that a ample carnal successful a representation of him posing with a barbecued carcass belonged to a canine.