If confirmed as Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would control the world’s largest public health agency, and its $1.7 trillion budget.

Kennedy has pledged to "return our health agencies to their rich tradition of gold-standard, evidence-based science."

President-elect Donald Trump said Thursday he has picked Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, he announced in a social media post. HHS oversees major health agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was building up a following with his anti-vaccine nonprofit group, Children’s Health Defense, and became one of the world’s most influential spreaders of fear and distrust around vaccines.

Get the latest news on the transition to the new administration of President-elect Donald Trump and a new Congress.

In a move guaranteed to alarm many, President-elect Donald Trump has chosen Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vocal opponent of vaccines and other tenets of mainstream health care, to head the massive U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The nearly $2 trillion agency administers health-insurance programs for millions of Americans, approves medications and oversees vaccine safety.

The choice will roil many public health experts after his years of touting debunked claims that vaccines cause autism.

Trump picks RFK Jr. for HHS Secretary, Democratic Senators call him a "danger" to public health Trump choosing RFK Jr. for HHS Secretary sparks sharp debate about his qualifications and history as a vaccine skeptic.