RFK Jr.'s nomination for HHS secretary receives mixed reaction in Colorado

DENVER — President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to nominate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as the nation’s next Health and Human Services secretary received mixed reactions across Colorado.

“For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health,” Trump wrote in his announcement. “The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration, and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country. Mr. Kennedy will restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!”

Kennedy has espoused debunked claims that vaccines cause autism and written a book that accuses former NIH Director Anthony Fauci of controlling media and government funding for health to influence scientific research.

He is the founder of the Children's Health Defense, a nonprofit group that advocates against the use of vaccines.

Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said he was “excited” for the nomination in a post that quickly went viral on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“He helped us defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019 and will help make America healthy again by shaking up HHS and FDA,” Polis wrote. “I hope he leans into personal choice on vaccines rather than bans (which I think are terrible, just like mandates) but what I’m most optimistic about is taking on big pharma and the corporate ag oligopoly to improve our health.”

While critics of Polis agreed with his pro-RFK Jr. stance, the governor received pushback from many Democrats and progressives.

"I used to be your fan," Ezra Levin, the co-founder of Indivisible, a progressive organizing group, replied to Polis. "You will never win a Dem presidential nomination you appeasing embarrassment. Disqualifying."

The governor posted another statement attempting to clarify his position.

“Science must remain THE cornerstone of our nation’s health policy and the science-backed decision to get vaccinated improves public health and safety,” Polis said. “But if as a country we follow the science we would also be far more concerned about the impact of pesticides on public health, ag policy on nutrition, and the lack of access to prescription drugs due to drug high prices. This is why I am for a major shake-up in institutions like the FDA that have been barriers to lowering drug costs and promoting healthy food choices. Lest there by any doubt, I am vaccinated as is my family. I will hold any HHS Secretary to the same high standard of protecting and improving public health.”

After that statement also received criticism, the governor’s office issued a statement on behalf of Polis, once again attempting to clarify his position.

“Governor Polis has not changed his view as a whole on RFK Jr. or on the Governor’s previously stated concerns regarding some of RFK Jr’s positions,” a spokesperson for the governor said. “While opposed to RFK’s positions on a host of issues, including vaccines and banning fluoridation, he would appreciate seeing action on pesticides and efforts to lower prescription drug costs and if Trump is going to nominate someone like him then let them also take on soda, processed food, pesticides and heavy metals contamination. But he definitely does not endorse actions that would lead to measles outbreaks and opposes unscientific propaganda that undermines confidence in the lifesaving impact of vaccines. The Governor himself was vaccinated last week with the flu vaccine and the COVID vaccine.”

Shad Murib, chair of the Colorado Democratic Party, did not share Polis's feelings on RFK Jr.'s nomination. In a statement, Murib said the Health Secretary nominee "consistently undermines trust in science using his personal beliefs and conspiracy theories as evidence." The chairman accused Trump of being "more interested in 'owning the libs' during his second term than in doing anything to improve your life."

Full statement:

While the governor and others see RFK Jr.’s nomination as a positive development, some doctors in Colorado are worried.

Denver7 reached out to several hospitals and medical groups on Friday. Several of those who responded said their doctors did not want to discuss Kennedy's nomination, as they wanted to avoid politics.

“There's a lot of trepidation in my line of work at this moment in time when you have the current nominee for HHS being discussed,” said Dr. Ross Kedl, a professor of immunology at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus.

Kedl said he’s not concerned about Kennedy’s pledge to shake things up.

“Nobody is super worried about the idea of shaking up the NIH or HHS or whatever,” said Kedl. "Every administration moves things around a little bit. We're all kind of used to that.”

Kedl said what worries him is Kennedy’s qualifications.

"His sole qualifications for this job is that he happens to have captured the ear of the president-elect and, I don't know, I guess he's an environmental lawyer. It's not entirely clear to me what his qualifications for this are, other than the fact that he's really angry about vaccines and he can't accept the mountain of data that say it doesn't cause autism,” said Kedl.

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Claims that vaccines cause autism have been refuted by doctors and scientists around the world, yet the claims persist. Dr. Michelle Barron with UCHealth said the autism claims are based on fake data.

“The original journal that published the data has shown that the data was faked, essentially, and there is no true association with this,” Barron said. "It's been completely debunked, and it is not true science. But there is lingering effects of people worried about this."

Despite that, Kennedy has continued to claim vaccines cause autism. He said his views on vaccines have been largely misunderstood.

“First of all, I'm not anti-vaccine,” Kennedy said in a 2023 CNN interview. “I can say right now, there's no medicine for cancer that's safe and effective. It doesn't mean I'm against all medicines. I've been fighting 40 years to get mercury out of fish. Nobody calls me anti-fish. What I want is vaccines that are proven safe.”

Doctors said despite conspiracy theories and misinformation, vaccines are safe.

“Yes, vaccines are safe,” said Kedl. “There are typically years of experience and experimentation and validation for safety purposes that go behind every vaccine that's brought for public health purposes.”

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