In an interview simply hours after his affirmation as Well being and Human Companies Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. outlined his priorities in response to particular prompts by Fox Information host Laura Ingraham.
“It’s MAHA time” learn a chyron as Kennedy joined this system, later altering to “MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN!”—a variation on Trump’s Make America Nice Once more slogan.
Kennedy asserted that the U.S. is “the sickest nation on the earth,” a speaking level he has repeated many occasions in reference to its low rating on varied metrics amongst developed nations. He stated that Individuals face not solely a well being disaster but additionally a “religious disaster.”
Kennedy urged that addressing “illnesses of isolation” could be a significant focus of his function within the Trump Administration, saying that disconnection from communities drives persistent illnesses, suicide, despair, alcoholism, and habit. “I believe we’ve got to handle all of these issues on the identical time. We will’t simply say we’re going to make you bodily wholesome.”
“That’s a tall order,” Ingraham responded earlier than discussing how unconventional a choose Kennedy was for the function he’s assuming, taking part in a clip of Democratic Senate Chief Chuck Schumer criticizing Kennedy’s {qualifications}.
“The {qualifications} that Senator Schumer is speaking about there, are the very {qualifications} that bought us to the place we’re at present,” Kennedy stated. “We do want a break. We want someone completely different who can are available in and say, ‘I’m going to be a disruptor. I’m not going to let the meals business and the pharmaceutical business run well being coverage anymore.’”
Right here’s what else Kennedy spoke about.
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‘We should not be subsidizing individuals to eat poison’
When requested by Ingraham what meals components he’d successfully take away from the U.S., Kennedy didn’t say he would outright ban any, arguing that Individuals ought to have “freedom of alternative.” “If you wish to eat Twinkies,” he stated, “you ought to have the ability to eat them.” However he promised to result in “radical transparency” in informing individuals of meals substances and their well being results.
Kennedy did say, nonetheless, that he would goal the Supplemental Diet Help Program (meals stamps) in addition to college lunches for adjustments. Kennedy has beforehand criticized the packages for prioritizing ultra-processed meals and sugary drinks, calling for a reorientation towards more healthy choices. “We should not be subsidizing individuals to eat poison,” he stated.
Learn Extra: RFK Jr. Says Extremely-Processed Meals Are ‘Poison’—However That He Received’t Ban Them
‘I’m not going to remove anyone’s vaccine’
Kennedy additionally stated, “I’m not going to remove anyone’s vaccine,” promising as a substitute to publicize extra data on their efficacy and unwanted effects, claiming at present inadequate security research and surveillance of vaccine results.
“If persons are pleased with their vaccines, they ought to have the ability to get them,” Kennedy stated. “What we’re going to do is give individuals good science.”
Requested whether or not he thought the COVID-19 vaccine was protected, Kennedy advised Ingraham: “We don’t have good knowledge on it. And that may be a crime.”
Learn Extra: RFK Jr. Denied He Is Anti-Vaccine Throughout His Affirmation Listening to. Right here’s His Report
‘I’ve an inventory in my head’
Kennedy additionally promised firings within the Division and its subagencies—together with the world’s main analysis funder Nationwide Institutes of Well being.
“I’ve an inventory in my head,” Kennedy advised Ingraham when requested if he had an inventory of particular individuals to take away. Kennedy stated that lower-level federal staff have been “public-spirited, good public servants, good American patriots, and hardworking individuals.” and that he was extra fascinated with “shifting away the individuals who have made actually unhealthy choices.”
When requested if he would reduce the Division’s workforce in half, Kennedy stated there are 90,000 staff and he’d “be stunned if there have been 50% cuts.” “In case you’ve been concerned in good science—you don’t have anything to fret about. In case you care about public well being, you’ve bought nothing to fret about.”
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‘Now we have now a capability to actually research it’
Ingraham additionally requested Kennedy about marijuana and abortion medicine, to which he replied that extra research should be performed.
Kennedy stated he was “anxious” in regards to the “catastrophic impacts” that high-THC marijuana can have on youth however added “that fear additionally must be balanced” with how 24 states and Washington, D.C., have legalized leisure use of the drug and too many individuals have been incarcerated over the drug. Kennedy stated state-level legalization permits for extra intensive research on the results of marijuana.
Kennedy additionally stated comparable security research shall be performed on abortion-inducing medicine, however he didn’t say whether or not he thinks entry to these tablets should be tightened.
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