Many Democrats and members of the public health community say they are dismayed over President-elect Donald Trump’s announcement Thursday that he is nominating Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary. Meanwhile, congressional Republicans who have made public statements are supporting Trump’s pick.

An anti-vaccine activist, Kennedy has no formal training or experience in medicine or public health. He has regularly espoused misinformation and conspiracy theories, including that “there’s no vaccine that is safe and effective,” that vaccines cause autism and that COVID-19 was “ethnically targeted” to disproportionately sicken white and Black people while sparing Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.

Kennedy has vowed to address chronic disease in the U.S., change vaccine regulations, fire Food and Drug Administration employees he deems to be corrupt, and gut the National Institutes of Health, which oversees vaccine research, of 600 workers. 

“Together we will clean up corruption, stop the revolving door between industry and government, and return our health agencies to their rich tradition of gold-standard, evidence-based science,” Kennedy said after his nomination was announced. “I will provide Americans with transparency and access to all the data so they can make informed choices for themselves and their families.”

Trump said last month he will let Kennedy “go wild on health.”

“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,” the president-elect said in a statement Thursday. “ … 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’s nomination must be confirmed by the Republican-led Senate, although Trump has called for recess appointments of his selections without a Senate vote.

Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., called the Kennedy nomination “f****** insane.”

“He’s a vaccine denier and a tin foil hat conspiracy theorist,” Garcia wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Thursday. “He will destroy our public health infrastructure and our vaccine distribution systems. This is going to cost lives.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said Kennedy “poses a danger to public health, scientific research, medicine, and health care coverage for millions. He wants to stop parents from protecting their babies from measles and his ideas would welcome the return of polio.”

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., posted that the idea of RFK serving as the nation’s top health official “could not be more dangerous.”

“There's no telling how far an anti-vaxxer & fringe conspiracy theorist like RFK Jr. could set America back in terms of public health, reproductive rights, research, & more,” she wrote on X. “And the consequences are not theoretical—they're life or death issues.”

Many doctors and scientists said they’re concerned, too.

Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, told Politico his organization will oppose Kennedy’s nomination. 

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a neurosurgeon and CNN’s chief medical correspondent, reported there was “horror” among people in the medical community he had spoken with. 

“It’s not often that the entire medical and public health community is going to be in lockstep on something, but they’re pretty close on this in terms of their significant concerns — horror, even,” Gupta said. “Somebody said to me today, ‘I can’t think of any single individual who would be more damaging to public health than RFK.’”

Former HHS Secretary Donna Shalala said the nomination is “shocking,” adding: “Kennedy is an unqualified, know nothing. He is dangerous to the health and well being of every American.”

Dr. Ashish Jha, former White House COVID-19 response coordinator, called Kennedy “an extraordinarily bad choice for the health of the American people.”

“His ideas may sound good on bumper stickers but are unserious and often downright harmful,” Jha posted on X. “Our healthcare system is far from perfect. But it has spurred so much progress that has benefitted the American people. This appointment, if confirmed, puts all of that at risk.”

Kennedy’s nomination is also being met with opposition from some on the right.

The editorial board at the right-leaning, Rupert Murdoch-owned New York Post posted an opinion piece saying that, after its interview with Kennedy in May when he was running for president, “we came out thinking he’s nuts on a lot of fronts.”

“A radical, prolonged and confused transition ordered by a guy like RFK Jr., who will use his high office to spout his controversial beliefs, leaves a lot of room for things to go wrong — and for people to wind up harmed or even dead,” the editorial read.

And Trump’s first vice president, Mike Pence, issued a statement Friday urging Senate Republicans to reject Kennedy because he has defended abortion. 

“I believe the nomination of RFK Jr. to serve as Secretary of HHS is an abrupt departure from the pro-life record of our administration and should be deeply concerning to millions of Pro-Life Americans who have supported the Republican Party and our nominees for decades,” Pence said.

But Kennedy is not without his supporters. Among them is Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat.

Polis wrote on X on Thursday that is “excited” about Kennedy’s nomination. 

“He helped us defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019 and will help make America healthy again by shaking up HHS and FDA,” Polis said. “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.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a doctor, praised Kennedy for championing “issues like healthy foods and the need for greater transparency in our public health infrastructure.”

“I look forward to learning more about his other policy positions and how they will support a conservative, pro-American agenda,” Cassidy posted online.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., an ophthalmologist before entering politics, said of Trump’s health secretary pick: “Finally, someone to detox the place after the [Anthony] Fauci era. Get ready for health care freedom and MAHA [make American healthy again]!”

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., called Trump’s selection “brilliant,” adding, “No one has done more to expose corruption in big pharma and big food” than Kennedy.