The letter raised concerns that RFK Jr will dismantle health agencies and undermine America’s role in global healthcare. Credit: KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI / Contributor / Getty images.

In an open letter, 77 Nobel laureates have “strongly” urged members of the US Senate to reject Donald Trump’s nomination of Robert F Kennedy (RFK) Jr for the role of Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).

The letter, obtained by the New York Times, states: “In view of his record, placing Mr Kennedy in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services would put the public’s health in jeopardy and undermine America’s global leadership in the sciences, in both the public and commercial sectors.”

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The signatories are all previous Nobel Prize winners for chemistry, economics, medicine or physics between the years of 1975 and 2024.

They draw attention to RFK Jr’s previous rhetoric about the agencies he will now lead, calling him “a belligerent critic of respected agencies (especially the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institutes of Health)”.

As HSS secretary, RFK Jr would oversee all three of the agencies named in the letter. He has a history of being heavily critical of the FDA, telling followers on X in October that “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.”

There have been also suggestions that he could pursue a restructuring of other health agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

GlobalData pharmaceutical research analyst Cyrus Fan believes that such a move could impact health security in the US, eroding vaccine recommendations and cutting funding to public health.

Commenting on the potential impacts of RFK Jr’s nomination last month, Fan said: “Given his anti-vaccine rhetoric and negative comments towards the FDA, it raises the questions for the future of US drug approvals and the FDA’s regulatory power.

“In addition, dismantling the CDC and other health agencies could jeopardize US public health and slow down all the work made during the Biden Administration. This includes addressing the opioid epidemic and the Cancer Moonshot programme.”

Fan’s concerns about the potential appointment of RFK Jr echo those of the Nobel laureates in this week’s letter, which asserted that “the leader of DHHS should continue to nurture and improve – not threaten – these important and highly respected institutions and their employees”.

The letter signatories also take issue with RFK Jr’s historical stance on vaccinations, alongside his comments on water fluoridation, which he has called “an industrial waste”.

The letter adds: “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 of AIDS and other diseases.”

In a 2023 interview with Fox News, RFK Jr said: “I think most of the things that people believe about my opinions about vaccines are wrong,” although he also stated that “I do believe that autism does come from vaccines”.

Last week, Trump suggested on NBC that RFK Jr may review the debunked links between autism and vaccinations. He told Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker: “If you go back 25 years ago, you had very little autism. Now you have it.”