Over 75 Nobel Prize Winners Reject RFK Jr. As HHS Leader
More than 75 esteemed Nobel Prize winners are urging U.S. Senate leaders to push back against Robert Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation as head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), The Hill reports.
Seventy-seven winners, to be exact, in the fields of medicine, chemistry, physics, and economics issued a letter to Capitol Hill with a list of concerns regarding Kennedy’s lack of “relevant experience” and some of the public stances he has taken. “In addition to his lack of credentials or relevant experience in medicine, science, public health, or administration, Mr. Kennedy has been an opponent of many health-protecting and life-saving vaccines, such as those that prevent measles and polio; a critic of the well-established positive effects of fluoridation of drinking water; a promoter of conspiracy theories about remarkably successful treatments for AIDS and other diseases; and a belligerent critic of respected agencies (especially the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control, and the National Institutes of Health),” the letter read.
“The leader of DHHS [Department of Health and Human Services] should continue to nurture and improve — not threaten — these important and highly respected institutions and their employees.”
The Nobel laureates are added to the list of public health figures and leaders who pushed back against Kennedy soon after President-elect Donald Trump nominated the controversial pick for the position. Some expressed concern about how Kennedy could mess with key government agencies, heighten vaccine hesitancy, and direct agency funding toward his preferred views. Prior to being nominated, in October 2024, Kennedy pushed back on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on X, claiming the agency’s “war on public health is about to end.” “If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags,” he wrote.
Despite the outcry, Trump has yet to step back on his decision and insists the former presidential nominee 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!”
According to Forbes, the letter, signed by 2024 winners in economics Simon Johnson and Daron Acemoglu, medicine winners Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun, and immunologist Drew Weissman, who won in 2023 for medicine after curating the way for one type of COVID-19 vaccine, is labeled as the first time in some years that winners came together to reject a Cabinet choice.
By taking a deep dive into his record, the Nobel laureates feel “placing Mr. Kennedy in charge of DHHS would jeopardize the public’s health in jeopardy and undermine America’s global leadership in the health sciences, in both the public and commercial sectors.”
In response to the letter, a Trump transition team spokesperson said, “Americans are sick and tired of the elites telling them what to do and how to do it.” “Our healthcare system in this country is broken; Mr. Kennedy will enact President Trump’s agenda to restore the integrity of our healthcare and Make America Healthy Again,” the statement continued.
If Kennedy is confirmed, he would be responsible for a department that oversees 13 separate agencies with a budget of nearly $2 trillion and handles federal health programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act. HHS and sub-agencies are collectively tasked with responding to diseases and public health threats like COVID-19 and the bird flu and approving new drugs and vaccines.
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