Former Trump FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb on Friday expressed concern over President-elect Donald Trump’s pick of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, telling CNBC Kennedy will “cost lives” if he “follows through on his intentions.
“I believe he will, and I believe he can,” Gottlieb told “Squawk Box.”
“You’re going to see measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination rates go down, and like I said, if we lose another 5% [of vaccinations], which could happen in the next year or two, we will see large measles outbreaks,” he continued.
Gottlieb said he didn’t think Trump “wants to see a resurgence” of measles or whooping cough.
“God forbid we have cases of polio in this country. He does not want to see that. I think he understood the importance of the child immunization schedule,” Gottlieb said.
“I’m not so sure that people really understand how Kennedy's intentions are going to translate into policy and how serious he is. There was an article recently where one of his confidants, Del Bigtree, who's going to be probably brought into HHS, said you know he didn't get inside the castle to forgo his longheld beliefs. They're going to follow through on these,” he added.
RFK Jr., the son and nephew of two titans of Democratic politics, wants to tackle what he calls the "chronic disease epidemic" of conditions including obesity, diabetes, and autism.
Kennedy disputes the anti-vaccine tag, saying he instead wants more rigorous testing of vaccines. However, he chaired the Children's Health Defense, a nonprofit organization that focuses on anti-vaccine messaging.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.
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