Colorado Governor Polis praises RFK Jr. as HHS pick
(The Center Square) – Colorado Governor Jared Polis expressed support for one of President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet nominees.
Trump wants Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to serve as his Health and Human Services secretary – a move Polis, a Democrat, strongly supports.
"I'm excited by the news that the President-Elect will appoint @RobertKennedyJr to @HHSGov," Polis postedon X. "He helped us defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019 and will help make America healthy again by shaking up HHS and FDA. I hope he leans into personal choice on vaccines rather than bans (which I think are terrible, just like mandates), but what I'm most optimistic about is taking on big pharma and the corporate ag oligopoly to improve our health."
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. © By Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
Polis mentioned a few policy stances Kennedy holds that he supports. This includes prescription drug importation from Canada, eliminating the agriculture lobby's influence on the FDA's nutrition department, and limiting the use of pesticides in agriculture that adversely impact human health.
"He will face strong special interest opposition on these, but I look forward to partnering with him to truly make America healthy again and I hope that we can finally make progress on these important issues," Polis postedon X.
Polis reiterated that he may disagree with Kennedy, a skeptic of some vaccines, about the efficacy of vaccines, but thinks Kennedy could improve public health.
"Re my thoughts on @RobertKennedyJr, Science must remain THE cornerstone of our nation's health policy and the science-backed decision to get vaccinated improves public health and safety," Polis wrote. "But if as a country we follow the science we would also be far more concerned about the impact of pesticides on public health, ag policy on nutrition, and the lack of access to prescription drugs due to high prices. This is why I am for a major shake-up in institutions like the FDA that have been barriers to lowering drug costs and promoting healthy food choices. Lest there by any doubt, I am vaccinated as is my family. I will hold any HHS Secretary to the same high standard of protecting and improving public health."
Trump announced the Kennedy pick on Thursday afternoon.
A lifelong Democrat, Kennedy became an independent late last year during his presidential bid.
However, he dropped out during the summer and endorsed Trump.
