Login
Trump Defends RFK Jr.: ‘He’s a Different Kind of a Guy’
President Trump on Sunday defended Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has come under increasing criticism from Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill over his handling of vaccines and other issues. Trump has given somewhat conflicting messages over the last several days about Kennedy, defending his Cabinet member while also defending vaccines, including those for polio and COVID-19.
In his remarks on Sunday, Trump continued with this trend, describing Kennedy as an outside-the-box thinker, but also suggesting he didn’t agree with everything Kennedy said by describing him as a “different kind of guy” who has a “lot of ideas” that “normal people” might not have.
“He’s a different kind of a guy. He’s got a lot of good ideas, but he’s got a lot of ideas,” Trump told reporters outside the White House as he left to make a trip to New York to see the U.S. Open final.
Florida’s Plan to Drop School Vaccine Rule Won’t Start for 90 Days, Won’t Cover All Diseases
Florida’s plan to drop school vaccine mandates likely won’t take effect for 90 days and would include only chickenpox and a few other illnesses unless lawmakers decide to extend it to other diseases, like polio and measles, the health department said Sunday.
The department responded to a request for details, four days after Florida’s surgeon general, Dr. Joseph Ladapo, said the state would become the first to make vaccinations voluntary and let families decide whether to inoculate their children.
It’s a retreat from decades of public policy and research that has shown vaccines to be safe and the most effective way to stop the spread of communicable diseases, especially among children. Despite that evidence, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has expressed deep skepticism about vaccines.
Florida’s plan would lift mandates on school vaccines for hepatitis B, chickenpox, Hib influenza and pneumococcal diseases, such as meningitis, the health department said.
EPA Approves Four New Pesticides That Qualify as PFAS
In April, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. went to Texas to tour farms and agriculture research facilities and learn “how America’s farmers are working to Make America Healthy Again,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture press release.
During a press conference at Sawyer Farms, a local news reporter told the duo that Texas ranchers are worried about “forever chemical” contamination caused by biosolids used for fertilizer and asked what the Trump administration was doing about it. Because they do not break down, the chemicals accumulate in the environment and can cause serious health harms.
Both Rollins and Kennedy said they were concerned about farm soils being contaminated with the chemicals, called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS — commonly referred to as forever chemicals. “We want to end the production of PFAS,” Kennedy said. “Ultimately, I think that’s what we have to do. There’s a lot of pressure on the industry now to stop using it.”
Hawaii Joining West Coast Vaccine Alliance
Hawaii is joining a coalition of West Coast, Democratic-led states forming a new public health alliance in opposition to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
California, Oregon and Washington state announced the alliance Wednesday, which officials say will provide “evidence-based immunization guidance” rooted in “safety, efficacy, and transparency” to ensure residents receive “credible information free from political interference,” according to a statement from California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D).
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, an emergency room physician, said islanders understand how critical it is to protect communities from preventable diseases.
“By joining the West Coast Health, we’re giving Hawaii’s people the same consistent, evidence-based guidance they can trust to keep their families and neighbors safe,” Green said in a statement. “This approach is critical as we all go forward into an era with severe threats from infectious diseases.”
