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As the new year begins, Donald Trump is set to be sworn in as President of the United States, taking on the nation’s highest office. Alongside him, his chosen leaders for U.S. healthcare could soon assume their roles—pending Senate approval. But not without contention. Some of Trump’s healthcare picks have sparked significant debate. So, what do their appointments signal for the future of healthcare in the U.S.?
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Anti-vaccine activist and conspiracy theorist Robert Kennedy Jr nominated for top healthcare role; healthcare stocks sink
American politician and environmental lawyer Robert Francis Kennedy Jr is Trump’s first choice to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Kennedy, who has been a vocal vaccine-sceptic, has vowed to crack down on big pharma. The announcement of his appointment two weeks ago spooked investors and led to a plummet in health stocks. Shares in Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca, and GSK in the U.S. and U.K. – big names in the vaccine space, let alone in COVID-19 vaccine research and development – dropped by 4%, 7%, and more than 3%, respectively.
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine stance has drawn criticism from the healthcare industry. He once likened the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to a “Nazi death camp” and compared vaccinating children to “sex abuse in the Catholic church,” according to resurfaced footage at autism conferences for parents in the U.S. He has made wrongful claims about vaccines being linked to autism, a neurodevelopmental disorder.
These claims were first popularized by a now-infamous British doctor Andrew Wakefield back in 1988, when he falsely stated that the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine caused autism in children. Although Wakefield’s theory was disproven and his medical license revoked, this disinformation spurred mass panic and has spilled over to what has become the anti-vaccination movement today.
Numerous studies have dispelled the myth that vaccines cause autism. In fact, a 2015 study published in JAMA – the largest study to date – analyzed the health records of over 95,000 children and confirmed that the MMR vaccine did not increase the risk for autism spectrum disorder. Moreover, vaccines have eradicated deadly diseases such as smallpox. The threat of highly infectious diseases such as Polio – a virus that affects the nervous system causing muscle weakness and paralysis – has been brought down since the vaccine rollout program in the 1950s, which reduced the number of cases worldwide by 99.9%.
Kennedy has made several other erroneous claims about infectious diseases, vaccines, and pandemics – some of them rooted in racism. At a press event last year, Kennedy claimed that the COVID-19 virus was genetically engineered to spare “Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese” people.
He has also gone on to suggest – falsely – that the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) may not be the cause of AIDS and that the true cause of the disease is unknown. The causative link of HIV to AIDS is established science and garnered a Nobel Prize in 2008. HIV research and the development of antiretroviral drugs have turned what was once a fatal condition into a manageable chronic condition and have reduced the risk of transmission, according to a report by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
Kennedy swears to shake up NIH and FDA
Now, these aren’t mere statements that Kennedy has made about healthcare. He has pledged to fire and replace 600 workers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) – which oversees medical research in the U.S. – and halt research on drug development and infectious diseases at the NIH for “about eight years” if he assumes his role.
Last month, he also called on employees in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to “pack your bags,” in a tweet. He accused the agency of “aggressive suppression” of a number of things that “can’t be patented” including stem cells, raw milk, chelating compounds, ivermectin, and hydroxychloroquine. Drinking raw milk – which Kennedy wants widely distributed in the U.S. – is risky, according to the FDA, and has often been linked to various bacterial outbreaks. Recently, raw milk was recalled for containing bird flu in the U.S.
Drugs like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, which were once falsely touted as “miracle” pills for COVID-19, have proven to be ineffective against the virus. Moreover, Kennedy’s nonprofit Children’s Health Defense has falsely remarked in the past that chelating compounds could potentially treat autism. Chelating compounds are chemicals that bind to metal ions to form ring-like structures called chelates. While they are the primary treatment for heavy metal poisoning, they have no benefit in treating autism, according to the NIH.
RFK Jr: false claims on antidepressants and weight loss drugs attract sharp criticism
The bogus claims don’t end there. He has previously implied that antidepressants have led young people to commit mass shootings. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) are widely used antidepressants that block the chemical called serotonin from being reabsorbed by nerve cells and instead made available to pass messages between brain cells. Experts have debunked claims that these medicines are linked to shootings in the U.S. and stated that there is no evidence to support them.
Kennedy has also been opposed to gender affirming care for trans youth as well as weight loss drugs like Ozempic. When he was running for Presidency this year as an independent candidate, he backed a ban on puberty blockers and hormone therapy for minors. According to Mayo Clinic, puberty blockers can be used to delay the changes of puberty, and are typically used to help treat gender dysphoria, prostate cancer, endometriosis, and precocious puberty.
His issues with weight loss drugs tie into his plans to “Make America Healthy Again,” a slogan he adopted from Trump’s political “Make America Great Again” campaign. While the Biden administration has just announced the decision to cover diabetes and obesity treatments for low-income Americans with Medicaid, Kennedy may not be a fan of these plans. He said that drugmakers are “counting on selling (weight-loss drugs) to Americans because we’re so stupid and so addicted to drugs.”
He also claimed in an interview with Fox News last month that the European Union (EU) is currently “investigating Ozempic for suicidal ideation,” which is untrue. While the European Medicines Agency (EMA) was investigating GLP-1 agonist drugs like Ozempic and Saxenda after Icelandic regulators flagged three cases where patients on these drugs had suicidal thoughts, the EMA concluded that there was no link between GLP1s and suicidal ideation, earlier this year.
Kennedy argued that instead of taking GLP1 agonists to combat obesity and chronic diseases, the focus should be on eating healthy meals, which public health experts have criticized as an oversimplification.
“It is wrong to assume that people with high body weight and BMI just sit around and eat low-quality food,” Jody Dushay, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, told CNN. “Taking medication to treat obesity should not be demonized.”
Kennedy to come down hard on big pharma and chronic diseases
Part of his Make America Healthy Again campaign is to clamp down on big pharma and ultra-processed foods. These are foods with high levels of additives, coloring, and preservatives, and make up 73% of food supply in the U.S. at present. Relying on an ultra-processed food diet leads to a higher risk of health conditions like heart disease, mental health disorders, and type diabetes, according to a report published in British Medical Journal (BMJ). With a goal to ban ultra-processed foods from school lunch programs if and once he takes over as head of healthcare in the U.S. as well as certain pesticides, his plans to address chronic diseases with food reform resonate with healthcare experts and the FDA.
Also at the top of his agenda is to crush the influence of pharmaceutical companies on U.S. healthcare. He has proposed to put an end to pharma ads on television. Pharmaceuticals in the U.S. spent around $18 billion on advertising last year, reported market research company Kantar. Kennedy also thinks that lawmakers should “cap drug prices so that companies can’t charge Americans substantially more than Europeans pay,” according to an op-ed piece Kennedy wrote for Wall Street Journal in September.
Lockdown opponents, vaccine and vaccine mandate sceptics: Jay Bhattacharya for NIH, Dave Weldon for CDC, Marty Makary for FDA
Meanwhile, presumed to be joining Kennedy’s healthcare team are Trump’s appointees to head the NIH, FDA, and CDC. Stanford-trained doctor Jay Bhattacharya is set to pilot the NIH, the world’s largest biomedical research agency. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Bhattacharya opposed lockdown restrictions and co-authored an open letter called the Great Barrington Declaration, which demanded an alternative to lockdowns and promoted herd immunity. He claimed that the focus should be on protecting vulnerable groups like elderly people instead.
This was denounced by health experts, and then-NIH leader Francis Collins labeled the letter – which came before COVID-19 vaccines were being rolled out – dangerous, calling the authors “fringe experts.”
Bhattacharya remains vocal against the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci’s handling of the pandemic.
Trump’s pick to run the CDC is doctor and Kennedy’s anti-vaccine ally, Dave Weldon. If approved by the Senate, Weldon could put a dent in vaccine policy. The CDC is a federal agency mandated with protecting the health of people in the U.S. While U.S. states are not required to follow the agency’s guidance, most of them do. Both Kennedy and Weldon could have enormous influence over how vaccines are recommended in the country, according to a report by NBC News. Weldon has also fought for limits on abortion.
The nominee for the top job at the FDA – the regulatory body that Kennedy has threatened to purge – is Johns Hopkins surgeon and writer Marty Makary, who opposed COVID-19 vaccine mandates. While he was not against the vaccines per se, he questioned the need to make them mandatory.
However, Makary has been a staunch critic against overtreatment in healthcare – which can be harmful to patients as well as could divert resources away from more pressing cases – and could push to cut the overuse of antibiotics and back the use of hormone replacement treatment to relieve menopause symptoms.
Celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz to lead CMS; Fox News contributor Janette Nesheiwat chosen for Surgeon General post
Meanwhile, this year, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is expected to spend $1.8 trillion, more than a third of total healthcare spend in the U.S., according to this week’s Stifel Biopharma Market Update. To lead the CDC, Trump tapped former Columbia University professor and celebrity doctor Mehmet Oz. Having hosted a daytime television show from 2009 to 2022, critics think he lacks administrative experience.
His past claims on U.S. healthcare are mired in controversy: from falsely promoting hydroxychloroquine as a remedy for COVID-19 to alleged dubious promotion of “miracle” weight-loss supplements on his show, following which he faced a grilling by senators a decade ago. Still, Oz has long voiced support for Medicare Advantage, a program in which the government pays private insurers to financially cover senior citizens and disabled people in the U.S. However, as Trump and his allies plot possible cuts to Medicaid, among other welfare programs, Medicare Advantage could still be in jeopardy.
Trump has also selected doctor and Fox News’ medical contributor Janette Nesheiwat as the Surgeon General. Nesheiwat sells her brand of dietary supplements BC Boost, which she claims strengthens the immune system. She has slammed puberty blocker treatments for trans youth as well as vaccine mandates during the pandemic – although she supports vaccinations. If confirmed by the Senate, Nesheiwat will be tasked with providing the “best scientific information” to improve the health of Americans and reduce their risk of illness and injury.
Now that Trump has nominated people to fill up all the top healthcare spots in the country, it is up to the Senate to decide who stays. If, in fact, Kennedy is declared to lead the country’s healthcare, how things would play out for the industry with an anti-vaccine activist in charge, seems shaky at present.
