{"id":826489,"date":"2025-02-12T11:13:42","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T17:13:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/12\/group-of-experts-says-rfk-jr-would-significantly-undermine-public-health\/"},"modified":"2025-02-12T11:13:42","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T17:13:42","slug":"group-of-experts-says-rfk-jr-would-significantly-undermine-public-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/12\/group-of-experts-says-rfk-jr-would-significantly-undermine-public-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Group of experts says RFK Jr. would \u2018significantly undermine\u2019 public health"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A coalition opposing the nominee for health secretary includes faculty members from leading U.S. academic institutions, including public health schools at Yale and Harvard.<\/h2>\n
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\n\tRobert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at a campaign rally in Michigan on Nov. 1. Julia Demaree Nikhinson<\/em>\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBy Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times Service\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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A new national coalition of health professionals and scientists, mobilizing to oppose Senate confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be the United States\u2019 next health secretary, released a public letter Monday warning that his \u201cunfounded, fringe beliefs could significantly undermine public health practices across the country and around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

The coalition, calling itself \u201cDefend Public Health,\u201d includes faculty members from some of the United States\u2019 leading academic institutions, including public health schools at Yale and Harvard. Its leaders said they had gathered 700 signatures on the public letter and had generated 3,500 individual letters<\/a> urging senators to reject Kennedy, President-elect Donald Trump\u2019s choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.<\/p>\n

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\u201cMr. Kennedy is unqualified to lead the nation\u2019s health department with a budget of over $1.6 trillion and over 80,000 employees,\u201d the public letter states. \u201cHe has little to no relevant administrative, policy or health experience or expertise that would prepare him to oversee the work of critical public health agencies.\u201d<\/p>\n

Over the past several weeks, Kennedy has made the rounds on Capitol Hill<\/a>, paying courtesy calls to senators who will consider his nomination. His confirmation is not assured, with some Republicans, including Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, chair of the Senate Health Committee, having said that Kennedy\u2019s vaccine skepticism<\/a> gives them pause.<\/p>\n

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The letter published Monday is only the latest public push by Kennedy opponents. A separate group<\/a>, the Committee to Protect Health Care, said last week that it had gathered more than 15,000 signatures on a letter<\/a> opposing Kennedy.<\/p>\n

But Kennedy allies in the medical field are also mobilizing. In December, not long after Trump announced his nomination, a group of 800 medical professionals<\/a> released its own letter supporting Kennedy. It said his nomination \u201crepresents an unparalleled chance to restore our nation\u2019s health and renew trust in our public health institutions.\u201d<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared in The New York Times<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Skip to Main Content Politics A coalition opposing the nominee for health secretary includes faculty members from leading U.S. academic institutions, including public health schools at Yale and Harvard. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at a campaign rally in Michigan on Nov. 1. Julia Demaree Nikhinson By Sheryl Gay Stolberg, New York Times Service January<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":826490,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4371,1222],"tags":[5836,6796],"class_list":{"0":"post-826489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-experts","8":"category-group","9":"tag-experts","10":"tag-group"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=826489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/826489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=826489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=826489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=826489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}