By The Week UK
Copyright theweek
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Less than $3 per week
View Profile
The Explainer
Talking Points
The Week Recommends
Newsletters
From the Magazine
The Week Junior
Food & Drink
Personal Finance
All Categories
Newsletter sign up
Talking Point
RFK Jr’s crusade: will he make America healthy again?
American health policy rests in the hands of ‘an antivax kook’ who ‘has expressed doubt about the germ theory of disease itself’
Newsletter sign up
Kennedy’s stint as US health secretary has been turbulent
(Image credit: Andrew Harnik / Getty Images)
The Week UK
21 September 2025
Shortly before winning his second term, Donald Trump told supporters he would let Robert F. Kennedy Jr “go wild” on health, medicine and food. He has kept that promise, said Sabrina Siddiqui in The Wall Street Journal.
Kennedy’s stint as US health secretary has been nothing if not turbulent. He has replaced every member of the vaccine advisory panel of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with his own picks; cancelled $500 million in research on mRNA vaccines; and limited access to Covid jabs. He recently fired the newly confirmed director of the CDC, Susan Monarez, who has accused him of waging “a deliberate effort to weaken America’s public health system and vaccine protections”.
Trump has so far stood by RFK Jr, though he expressed some unease earlier this month about restrictions on vaccines: “I think you have to be very careful…” he said. “Pure and simple, they work.” RFK Jr’s shakeup of health agencies has been “dizzying”, said Nicholas Florko in The Atlantic. But beyond his vaccine moves and his success in pressuring many food companies to promise to remove certain synthetic food dyes from products, his Make America Healthy Again crusade – an attempt to diagnose and explain America’s health woes – has had limited impact.
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
Sign up for The Week’s Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Kennedy’s goals for the year include defining ultra-processed food, requiring nutrition courses in medical schools, and closing a loophole that lets firms introduce new chemicals into the food supply. Many of these are “laudable”, but how many will actually be achieved? And many of his aims are not so laudable, said Noah Smith on Substack. Not only is he “an antivax kook”, but he “has expressed doubt about the germ theory of disease itself”, preferring the “miasma theory” popular among medieval peasants.
RFK Jr has many “pet obsessions”, said Kimberley A. Strassel in The Wall Street Journal: a love of raw milk and beef tallow; a suspicion of seed oils. But they may be less significant than his “ineptitude”. Nothing gets done because he “can’t put together or keep a team”. He has presided over endless purgings, resignations, reversals and conflicts of interest – a real “goat rodeo”. Unlike other cabinet members, he’s “pursuing his own agenda, not the president’s vision”, and making even loyalists question the administration’s competence. How long will Trump allow this “exercise in political self-harm to continue”?
Sign up for Today’s Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Contact me with news and offers from other Future brandsReceive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsorsBy submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.
The Week UK
Social Links Navigation
Is free speech under threat in Britain?
The Explainer
The Trump administration thinks that free speech is in retreat in Britain. What do we mean by freedom of speech, and is it in danger?
Crossword: September 21, 2025
The Week’s daily crossword puzzle
Codeword: September 21, 2025
The Week’s daily codeword puzzle
You might also like
Is free speech under threat in Britain?
The Explainer
The Trump administration thinks that free speech is in retreat in Britain. What do we mean by freedom of speech, and is it in danger?
Charlie Kirk: a shocking murder in a divided country
In the Spotlight
Little sign of kind politics in the US after political influencer killed
What is Donald Trump’s visit worth to the UK economy?
In the Spotlight
Centrepiece of the president’s trip, business-wise, is a ‘technology partnership’
China: Xi seeks to fill America’s void
Trump’s tariffs are pushing nations eastward as Xi Jinping focuses on strengthening ties with global leaders
Rebrands: Bringing back the War Department
Trump revives the Department of Defense’s former name
Supreme Court: Will it allow Trump’s tariffs?
Justices fast-track Trump’s appeal to see if his sweeping tariffs are unconstitutional
Pregnancy in America
Why is it getting riskier to give birth in the U.S.?
RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine crusade comes under fire
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced a heated hearing as senators accused him of lying and spreading chaos
View More ▸
Contact Future’s experts
Terms and Conditions
Privacy Policy
Cookie Policy
Advertise With Us
The Week is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.
Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street
