Former Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Saturday weighed in on President-elect Trump selecting Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the department, calling it a “life or death” decision.
“This is life or death,” Sebelius said on MSNBC’s “The Saturday Show with Jonathan Capehart” in a clip highlighted by Mediaite. “The HHS affects people from birth to their grave and is intimately connected with every state in the country.”
Kennedy, who has a history of anti-vaccine activism, has said in recent interviews that he does not wish to get rid of any approved vaccines, but has also said health agencies haven’t done the necessary research on them.
“So this could be very dangerous. I think it’s totally disqualifying for anyone who seeks to lead the major health agency in this country and one of the leaders in the world to just unequivocally say there is no safe and effective vaccine,” Sebelius said.
“That in and of itself, from the bully pulpit of HHS, could end up killing people, could end up harming children,” the former HHS secretary said.
“My grandson is too young to get a lot of vaccinations yet, and having him exposed to unvaccinated people with polio and measles is a terrifying thought. … I think this is absolutely terrifying and people should understand how serious it is.”
Trump said after naming Kennedy for the HHS role that he “will restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!”
“For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health,” Trump said at the time on social media.
Sebelius also said recently on CNN that the thought of Kennedy leading HHS is “very frightening” for Americans.
“To have someone coming into a scientific agency that is a vaccine skeptic and may well undo decades of public health work, I think, is terrifying for the American public who rely on HHS from cradle to grave for resources, for information, for public health, for oversight of our food and medicines,” Sebelius told CNN’s John Berman.
The Hill has reached out to the Trump transition team for comment.
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