Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) seemingly backed some of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s opinions on certain aspects of the health industry, though he still expressed concerns over some of Kennedy’s other health-related views.
“I think what he’s saying about the food industry is exactly correct. I think you have a food industry concerned about their profits, could care less about the health of the American people. I think they have to be taken on,” Sanders said during a Thursday interview with CBS News correspondent Natalie Brand.
President-elect Trump tapped Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic and environmental lawyer, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) last month. The nomination sent shock waves among public health experts, who worry he could meddle with key government agencies, amplify vaccine hesitancy and direct agency funding to favor his preferred views.
Kennedy brings a deep skepticism of pharmaceutical companies and the federal agencies overseeing them. The former independent presidential candidate previously said federal health regulators are “sock puppets” held captive by industry special interests. He has promised to purge entire departments at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to eliminate corruption.
Sanders, who holds the top post on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, also expressed criticisms of Kennedy. During the CBS News interview, he called some of Kennedy’s suggestions, like removing fluoride from public water and his views on vaccines, “extremely dangerous.”
Kennedy said during an interview with NBC News last month that he won’t take away vaccines from people when Trump takes office in January.
“If vaccines are working for somebody, I’m not going to take them away. People ought to have [a] choice, and that choice ought to be informed by the best information,” he said.
“So I’m going to make sure scientific safety studies and efficacy are out there, and people can make individual assessments about whether that product is going to be good for them,” Kennedy added.
His vow came after Trump-Vance transition team co-Chair Howard Lutnick said in a CNN interview on Oct. 30 that Kennedy wants to conduct studies to prove vaccines are unsafe and eventually pull them from the market.
Public health agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have long maintained that vaccines are safe and effective, citing results from clinical studies and real-world data.
Sanders’s interview followed a Senate hearing where he slammed FDA officials for what he described as the country’s “horrific epidemic” of obesity and diabetes, according to CBS News.
“Do I think the FDA has brought forth the kind of urgency that is needed to address this crisis? No, I don’t. That’s the point I tried to make today,” Sanders said, as reported by CBS News.
Sanders’s opinion on Kennedy’s views on public health follow similar comments he made during a recent interview with Business Insider, where he said Kennedy was “right” about America’s “unhealthy society.”
“When Kennedy talks about an unhealthy society, he’s right,” Sanders told Business Insider. “The amount of chronic illness that we have is just extraordinary.”
Sanders had also mentioned he thinks Kennedy’s anti-vaccine stance is “kind of crazy” and a conspiracy theory, but overall, “some of what he’s saying is not crazy.”