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."

Kennedy has been criticized for making false medical claims. He has also vowed to purge the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Public health experts, physicians, and scientists responded with fury and disgust to the news that Donald Trump will nominate anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be the secretary of Health and Human Services.

President-elect Donald Trump has picked a prominent vaccine skeptic to lead the nation’s sprawling public health apparatus. Robert F.

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has a condition called spasmodic dysphonia, which causes the sound of a raspy voice due to spasms in the vocal cords.

Donald Trump’s choice to run the Department of Health and Human Services spooked investors who worry what Kennedy would do.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and his wife Cheryl Hines arrive before President-elect Donald Trump speaks during an America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Plus: Is Trump signaling a retribution agenda with Gaetz, and other picks for his administration? These and mores stories on The Excerpt.

Dr. Kavita Patel, former Obama White House Policy Director and Vaughn Hillyard, NBC News Correspondent join Nicolle Wallace on Deadline White House with reaction to the stunning news that Donald Trump has selected Robert F.

President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee would oversee agencies that regulate food, vaccines and medicine and were instrumental during the pandemic.