Trump nominees signal RFK's takeover of health agencies
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President-elect Trump's nominees to lead the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention appear amenable to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s desire to disrupt key health agencies and, especially at the CDC, to helping him raise concerns about vaccines despite reams of data on their safety.
Why it matters: The nominees' views are nuanced and, in some cases, vary significantly, including on the topic of vaccines. But they're all choices outside of the mainstream and suggest big changes are coming to the country's health agencies.
Driving the news: Trump announced on Friday night his decision to appoint Johns Hopkins University professor Marty Makary to lead the FDA, former congressman Dave Weldon as CDC director and doctor Janette Nesheiwat as surgeon general.
- Just like Kennedy and Mehmet Oz, who Trump has appointed to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, neither Makary nor Weldon have worked inside the agencies they will lead if confirmed by the Senate, and none besides Weldon have any government experience.
- The surgeon general doesn't lead an agency, although it is a Senate-confirmed position.
Where it stands: Perhaps most controversial among the new nominees is Weldon, who has a history of questioning vaccine safety, contradicting established science.
- While in Congress, he co-sponsored bipartisan bills titled the "Mercury-Free Vaccines Act" and the "Vaccine Safety and Public Confidence Assurance Act."
- In a 2007 statement on the latter, Weldon wrote that "legitimate questions persist regarding the possible association between the mercury-based preservative, thimerosal, and the childhood epidemic of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), including autism."
- Thimerosal has been used as a preservative in vaccines, although it was taken out of childhood vaccines in 2001, per the CDC. Flu vaccines are available in thimerosal-containing versions and thimerosal-free versions.
- Many studies have found no evidence of harm of thimerosal in low doses in vaccines, and have discredited claims of connection between thimerosal in vaccines and autism.
Weldon has pointed some of his concerns at the agency he will lead, if confirmed.
- "The federal government dedicates far more resources to promoting the immunizations than in safety evaluations. And most of that promotion is coordinated by the CDC," he wrote in the 2007 statement, adding that "very few resources are dedicated to considering potential longer-term or chronic adverse reactions."
- The statement was posted on the website of the Children's Health Defense, the anti-vaccine organization founded by Kennedy.
- "Dave will proudly restore the CDC to its true purpose, and will work to end the Chronic Disease Epidemic, and Make America Healthy Again!" Trump wrote in a the announcement of Weldon's nomination.
Between the lines: Makary, Trump's FDA pick, is being viewed by transition-watchers as a more neutral choice.
- His popularity on the right grew during the COVID pandemic as he became known for his criticism of pandemic policies, especially regarding how vaccines were used and administered.
- His broader vaccine criticism has been significantly more limited than Weldon's or Kennedy's, though he's been publicly supportive of Kennedy.
- If confirmed, he'll be under enormous pressure the moment he takes control of an agency Kennedy has vowed to purge, and his early actions will be scrutinized for clues as to exactly how aligned with Kennedy's worldview Makary will be.
- "I am confident that Dr. Makary, having dedicated his career to High-Quality, Lower-Cost Care, will restore FDA to the Gold Standard of Scientific Research, and cut the bureaucratic red tape at the Agency to make sure Americans get the Medical Cures and Treatments they deserve," Trump wrote in the statement announcing the nomination.
The intrigue: Nesheiwat, Trump's nominee for surgeon general and a Fox News commentator, has outraged some of his followers, with posters on X expressing their fury with her early support of COVID vaccines and other pandemic-era measures.
- Trump leaned into her pandemic involvement while announcing her nomination and said she "will play a pivotal role in MAKING AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN!"
What we're watching: A fundraising email sent this weekend by the Children's Health Defense celebrated what the agencies might do under Kennedy's leadership.
- Officials at the CDC, FDA, and National Institutes of Health "know the liability shield for vaccine makers that lets them push dangerous, shoddily tested vaccines on our children with impunity, is about to be removed," the organization wrote.
- "They know the vaccine safety data the CDC has secretly guarded for decades will be unlocked … and when it is, that data will expose the dark side of Big Pharma and public health agency corruption."
The bottom line: Plenty of other key health care roles still need to be filled. But so far, the pattern of Kennedy-aligned but inexperienced agency heads is holding.
- That sets up a second Trump term that is much different from the first, and much less predictable.
