Health advocates mount opposition to RFK Jr health job pick
Coalition of 40+ groups opposes Kennedy's HHS nomination
Groups are concerned about Kennedy's potential vaccine policies
Advocates target Republican senators to block confirmation
By Michael Erman and Julie Steenhuysen
Dec 16 (Reuters) -An expanding coalition of health and consumer advocates is campaigning against Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination to the top U.S. health job over concerns about his activism against vaccines and other health issues, according to the groups' representatives.
Obamacare advocate Protect Our Care, influential consumer group Public Citizen and Community Catalyst, which fights for equality in healthcare, are part of a coalition of at least 40 organizations targeting a group of Republican U.S. senators to help block Kennedy's confirmation as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services.
The Committee to Protect Health Care, a grassroots physician organization, has also amassed nearly 16,000 signatures from physicians who oppose Kennedy's nomination.
The efforts come as Kennedy heads to Capitol Hill to win support following his nomination by President-elect Donald Trump including by meeting with incoming Senate health committee chairman Republican Bill Cassidy, a Cassidy staff member confirmed.
"We’re going to work to block his nomination. And I think we will succeed," said Peter Maybarduk, access to medicines director of Public Citizen, a consumer group founded by Ralph Nader in 1971, which has worked for causes including drug safety and airbags in cars. "Even if RFK Jr. can't amass the power to take down vaccine funding, elevating his falsehoods to some kind of officialdom is a danger all its own."
Kennedy has long sown doubts about the safety and efficacy of vaccines that have helped curb disease and prevent deaths for decades. He disputes the anti-vaccine label and has said he would not prevent Americans from getting inoculations, but is a founder of the anti-vaccine group Children's Health Defense and in a 2023 interview with Lex Fridman said no vaccines are safe and effective.
Kennedy has said he wants to work to end chronic disease, break any ties between employees at the U.S. drugs regulator and industry, and advise U.S. water systems to remove fluoride. Trump has said he will discuss the U.S. childhood vaccination program with Kennedy, and on Monday said all vaccines should be looked at.
Kennedy's spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. His advocates have said opposition to his nomination stems from corporate interests.
Protect Our Care Executive Director Brad Woodhouse said the group has hired lobbying and advocacy teams in more than six states to try to win over the Republican senators seen as possible "no" votes given their track records on health issues or because they are likely to face strong 2026 reelection challenges.
The groups are also raising money to buy ads and conduct polling on health issues, they said.
Protect Our Care, which works to defend the Affordable Care Act, said it will likely hold media briefings with public health experts and politicians to call attention to Kennedy's policies as he meets with senators.
Others have opposed the nomination as well. Pfizer PFE.N board member Scott Gottlieb, a former FDA commissioner under Trump, told CNBC last month Kennedy's agenda "will cost lives in this country." The Wall Street Journal's Editorial Board in a Dec. 4 column wrote that Kennedy could "disrupt access to life-saving medicines and the innovation ecosystem that creates them."
HHS has oversight for the FDA, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.
TARGETING SENATORS
Confirmation of Kennedy and other cabinet nominees requires a majority vote in the Senate. Kennedy needs the backing of 50 out of the 53 Republican senators if all 47 Democrats vote against him. The advocates are targeting senators in states including Alaska, Idaho, North Carolina, Iowa, West Virginia and Maine.
American Values 2024, a Super PAC that supports Kennedy, has initiated a video campaign defending the nominee.
In a video it posted on social media platform X, Jay Carson, who used to work for President Bill Clinton and other Democrats but now supports Kennedy, argues that opposition to Kennedy stems from a smear campaign by pharmaceutical companies.
"They're determined to keep him out of Washington, D.C.," the Super PAC said on X.
The top lobby group for drugmakers, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, declined to comment. In a Nov. 14 statement, the industry said it wants to work with the Trump administration.
Community Catalyst, which has raised millions since 1998 to support equal access to healthcare, said Kennedy's anti-vaccine rhetoric and position against fluoridated water pushed it to act.
Mona Shah, Community Catalyst's senior director of policy and strategy, said the group has worked for decades to improve dental care access in hard-to-reach communities that face racial discrimination where removing fluoride from drinking water could do the greatest harm.
"We really feel that some of these policies would hurt communities, really endanger children and families and truly make us sicker as a nation," Shah said.
The Committee to Protect Health Care's petition describes Kennedy's appointment as a threat to patient safety and "an affront" to public health. The group accepts no pharmaceutical industry funding.
Dr. Rob Davidson, the group's executive director and an emergency room physician in Michigan, said Americans need to be aware of Kennedy's "very dangerous" positions on topics like vaccines, and COVID-19 being engineered to target certain racial populations.
"We want to make sure people understand he's not just a kooky guy who says weird things," Davidson said.
Reporting by Michael Erman in New Jersey and Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago; Additional reporting by Stephanie Kelly in New York and Ahmed Aboulenein in Washington; Editing by Caroline Humer and Bill Berkrot
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