Trump’s picks for top health jobs not just team of rivals but “team of opponents”
President-elect Donald Trump’s many Candidates for federal health agencies pursue policies and goals that make them inconsistent with each other or with Trump’s choice to run the Department of Health and Human Services, robert kennedy jr.setting the stage for internal friction within public health initiatives.
The candidates hold differing views on issues such as abortion restrictions, the safety of childhood vaccines, the COVID-19 response and the use of weight-loss drugs. The divide leaves Trump’s picks to cling to more traditional and orthodox science, such as the long-standing, scientifically supported finding that vaccines are safe, versus the often unsubstantiated claims advanced by Kennedy and other picks. Opinions claim that vaccines are linked to autism.
Setting and pursuing priorities becomes more difficult when senior policymakers hold different perspectives on the same team.
The Trump transition team and the designated nominees mentioned in this article did not respond to requests for comment.
Michael Cannon, director of health policy research at the Cato Institute, a libertarian policy group, said this is a potential “team of naysayers” within government health agencies. Kennedy did not have a medical degree.
He said Kennedy was known for rejecting opposing views in the face of science.
“The heads of the FDA and NIH will spend all their time explaining to their bosses what a confidence interval is,” Cannon said, referring to the statistical term used in medical research.
Those whose views prevail will important force in formulating policiesfrom who is appointed to the federal vaccine advisory committee, to federal authorization of COVID-19 vaccines, to restrictions on abortion pills. If Kennedy is confirmed as HHS secretary, he is expected to set much of the agenda.
“If President Trump’s nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be secretary of state is confirmed, it’s going to be very difficult to advance in the department if you don’t share his views,” said Amesh, an infectious disease expert and senior scholar at the institute. Amesh Adalja said. Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. “They need to suppress their views to accommodate those of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Independent public disagreement is unwelcome in this administration and in any administration.”
Kennedy as Chairman The battle for children’s healthan anti-vaccine nonprofit. He vowed to contain the country Appetite for ultra-processed foods and the incidence of chronic diseases. He helped Trump select people to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health. If confirmed, he would run the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which has a budget of more than $1.7 trillion.
Conflicts may occur. Kennedy supported abortion until the fetus was viable. That puts him at odds with Dave Weldon, the former Florida congressman Trump picked to run the CDC. Weldon is a doctor abortion opponents He introduced a major law allowing health professionals to opt out of the procedure.
Weldon will lead an agency that has been in the crosshairs of conservatives since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. On his campaign website, he boasted of his “100 percent pro-life voting record.” (Earlier this year, he ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the Florida House of Representatives.)
Trump has said he would leave decisions about abortion to states, but the CDC under Weldon could fund research into the risks of abortion. The agency could require states to provide the federal government with information about abortions within their borders or risk losing federal funds.
Weldon, like Kennedy, has questioned the safety of vaccines and said he believes they cause autism. That’s at odds with the views of Johns Hopkins University surgeon Marty Makary, whom Trump plans to nominate as FDA commissioner. The British-American told Fox News Radio’s “The Brian Kilmeade Show” that vaccines “save lives,” but added that it was good to question the vaccination schedule for children in the United States.
The American Academy of Pediatrics encourages parents and their children’s doctors to follow the recommended childhood vaccination schedule. “Spreading vaccinations or non-standard schedules that start vaccinations when children are older can put entire communities at risk of serious disease, including infants and young children,” the organization said in guidance to its members.
Jay Bhattacharya, a physician and economist appointed by Trump to head the National Institutes of Health, also supports vaccines.
Kennedy said on NPR that federal authorities under his leadership will not “take the vaccine away from anyone.” But the FDA oversees the approval of vaccines, and under his leadership, the agency may add vaccine skeptics to advisory panels or may overhaul a program that largely shields vaccine makers from lawsuits over consumer harm. Revise.
“I do believe autism does come from vaccines,” Kennedy said on Fox News in 2023. Many scientific studies have shown Uncredible claims Vaccines cause autism.
Dr. Ashish Jha, who served as the White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator from 2022 to 2023, pointed out that Bhattacharya and Makkari have long and distinguished careers in medicine and research and will serve as top leaders. Positions bring decades of experience. But he said adhering to his views in the new government “will be much more difficult than they think”.
“It’s difficult to do something that upsets your boss, and if (Kennedy) is confirmed, he will be their boss,” Jia said. “If they’re going to stand up for what they think about the science, they’ve got a tough job. If they don’t, it’s just going to demoralize the staff.”
Most of Trump’s picks believe federal health agencies have done a poor job responding to the pandemic, a stance that resonates with many of the president-elect’s voters and supporters — despite Trump’s 2021 election of Joe Biden He led the response before taking office.
Kennedy said in an article 2021 Louisiana House Oversight Session The new coronavirus vaccine is the “deadliest” ever. He cited no evidence to support this claim.
Federal health officials say the vaccines have saved millions of lives around the world and provided critical protection against the coronavirus. Although its effectiveness diminishes over time, the protective effect persists.
The vaccine was said to be 52% effective against infection after four weeks A study in May In the New England Journal of Medicine, they were about 67% effective against hospitalization after four weeks. The vaccines are produced through Operation Warp Speed, a public-private partnership launched by Trump during his first term to fast-track vaccinations as well as other treatments.
Macari criticized COVID-19 vaccine guidelines that require vaccinations for young children. He believes that for many people, natural immunity against infection could replace vaccines. Bhattacharya opposed measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus in 2020 and advised all but the most vulnerable to carry on with their lives as usual. The World Health Organization has warned that this approach will overwhelm hospitals.
Muhammad Oz, Trump’s choice The head of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said vaccines are oversold. He advocates the use of the anti-malarial drug hydroxychloroquine as a treatment. The FDA revoked emergency authorization of hydroxychloroquine to treat the coronavirus in 2020, saying it was unlikely to be effective against the virus and that the risk of dangerous side effects was too high.
Meanwhile, Janette Nesheiwat, a former Fox News contributor and Trump’s pick for surgeon general, took a different stance. The doctor described the coronavirus vaccine as a gift from God in an opinion piece on Fox News.
Kennedy’s doubts about vaccines may be a central issue early in his administration. He said he hopes federal health agencies will shift their focus from preparing for and fighting infectious diseases to addressing chronic diseases.
As the H5N1 avian flu virus spreads among dairy cows, the shift in focus and questions about vaccines has some public health leaders worried. ever Nearly 60 people infected All but two of the cases reported in the United States this year have been linked to exposure to cattle or poultry.
“Initially, they’re going to have to talk about vaccinating people and animals” against bird flu, said George C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association. “We all contribute input. The department’s cohesion policy is driven by the secretary.”
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