Summarised by Centrist
Robert F. Kennedy Jr, serving as US President Donald Trump’s health secretary, is drawing fierce criticism for his handling of the CDC. In the New York Times, Senator Bernie Sanders and nine former CDC officials called for his resignation, arguing he is a destructive force in public health.
A Boston Globe columnist accused him of “severely limiting access to COVID vaccines” and causing “grave concerns” among Americans trying to protect themselves from the virus.
Kennedy, writing in the Wall Street Journal, countered that the CDC had squandered trust and must return to its core mission of fighting infectious disease with “integrity and transparency.” His defenders on the right, including The Blaze, praised him for firing the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee over conflicts of interest and for pushing back on gender ideology and artificial food colouring.
Others on the right were less supportive. The New York Post published one column calling Kennedy “Trump’s most destructive Cabinet member.” At the same time, another argued that elite backlash to his reforms shows how far public trust in government institutions has fallen.
