Former Trump official warns RFK Jr. could “cost lives” as health secretary

Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the former U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner during Donald Trump‘s first presidency, raised alarm on Friday about the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), warning that Kennedy Jr.’s policies could lead to a resurgence of preventable childhood infectious diseases that would have dire consequences for public health.

The selection of vaccine skeptic Kennedy Jr. to President-elect Trump’s Cabinet as HHS secretary has startled many doctors and medical experts, with Dr. Ashish Jha, a former Biden administration COVID-19 coordinator and the dean of Brown University’s School of Public Health, calling it an “extraordinarily bad choice.”

Kennedy Jr., who is on leave as the chair of the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense, was nominated for the role that could see him take charge of America’s public health agencies earlier this month, just three months after he dropped out of the 2024 presidential race as an independent candidate and endorsed Trump.

However, he needs to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate before he can assume the role of HHS secretary.

Speaking to CNBC’s Squawk Box, Gottlieb, who is a contributor on the network, said on Friday that the potential health outcomes under Kennedy Jr.’s leadership could be catastrophic.

“I think if RFK follows through on his intentions and I believe he will, and I believe he can, it will cost lives in this country,” Gottlieb said, adding that this could start “on day one.”

Gottlieb also said that significant impacts could be felt immediately after RFK Jr.’s appointment. “You’re going to see measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination rates go down. And like I said, if we lose another 5 percent [vaccinated], which could happen in the next year or two, we will see large measles outbreaks.”

While Kennedy Jr. has said in the past that he will not “take vaccines away from anybody,” Trump has previously indicated that immunizations may be banned under his administration, saying that he would “make a decision” about potentially banning them based on Kennedy Jr.’s recommendations, raising concerns that the vaccine mandate in the U.S. may be repealed.

Newsweek has reached out to Trump and Kennedy Jr.’s teams for via email comment on Gottlieb’s remarks.

In a social media post the day after Election Day, Kennedy Jr. wrote that he has “never been anti-vaccine. I’m going to make sure the scientific safety studies and efficacies are out there, and people can make individual assessments about whether that product is going to be good for them.”

Concerned about the potential for Kennedy Jr. to dismantle critical public health infrastructure, Gottlieb pointed to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which delivers vaccine recommendations, as a target.

“I think some in Congress right now who are deeply skeptical think that they can manage this through things like appropriations riders,” Gottlieb said. “That’s not going to be successful, because like I said, RFK can go in there with a stroke of a pen, disband ACIP, reconstitute it with like-minded people, issue a whole new bunch of recommendations.”

He also warned that such changes could disrupt programs like the Vaccines for Children (VFC) fund, which provides free vaccines to millions of children.

“For every 1,000 cases of measles that occur in children, there will be one death. And we are not good in this country at diagnosing and treating measles,” Gottlieb said on Friday, pointing to recent outbreaks in Ohio and Minnesota where significant portions of infected children were hospitalized due to delayed diagnoses and lack of familiarity among health care providers.

“And I don’t think there’s a thing Congress can do, and that is dependent upon Congress getting bills through on appropriations bills that would actually tie the hands of CDC and Kennedy,” Gottlieb said.

The former FDA commissioner also questioned whether Trump fully understands the ramifications of Kennedy Jr.’s nomination.

“I don’t think that these policies, efforts reflect [Trump’s] views,” he said. “I don’t think the president wants to see a resurgence of measles, wants to see a resurgence of whooping cough in his country. 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 added: “I’m not so sure that people really understand how Kennedy’s intentions are going to translate into policy and how serious he is.”