By Liz Essley Whyte, Andrew Restuccia and Vivian Salama
WASHINGTON -- President-elect Donald Trump is planning to nominate environmental lawyer and vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to serve as health and human services secretary, people familiar with the decision said.
The move, if affirmed by the Senate, would put a noted critic of U.S. public policy atop the country's vast health bureaucracy. Kennedy has promised sweeping changes to food and drug regulation and government-funded scientific research, in recent days saying the Food and Drug Administration's entire nutrition department needed to be eliminated and warning the agency's employees to "pack your bags."
Kennedy, 70, abandoned his independent presidential bid in August and endorsed Trump, promising that he and the Republican would work to "make America healthy again."
Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., confirmed that his father would nominate Kennedy in a post on social media.
Write to Liz Essley Whyte at liz.whyte@wsj.com, Andrew Restuccia at andrew.restuccia@wsj.com and Vivian Salama at vivian.salama@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 14, 2024 16:15 ET (21:15 GMT)
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