Credit: (Photo/Alex Brandon via AP)

WASHINGTON — The Senate elevated Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a man who for decades has sown unfounded doubt about vaccine safety, including proven treatment to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, to the highest public health position in the nation.

By a 52-48 vote Thursday, the Senate confirmed Kennedy, to be the 26th secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

A few hours later at the White House, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch swore in Kennedy and President Donald Trump signed an executive order on childhood chronic disease, according to the department.

New Jersey senators Cory Booker and Andy Kim, both Democrats, voted against confirmation.

Kennedy, the son of former New York senator and U.S. attorney general Robert Kennedy and nephew of President John F. Kennedy, was one of Trump’s nominees Democrats thought they had a chance to block.

‘It’s disturbing that Senate Republicans have embraced such a dangerous person to control the health of the American people.’ — Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-10th)

Confirmation places Kennedy, who is not a medical doctor, scientist or health researcher, at the tiller of a sprawling department that controls $1.7 trillion in federal spending and oversees medical research, food safety, infectious diseases, vaccines and health insurance for hundreds of millions of people in the U.S. through Medicare, Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program.

The department also houses other significant agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, or CMS.

Trump nominated political ally and former television doctor Mehmet Oz to lead CMS — a post that also requires Senate confirmation.

During two days of confirmation hearings, Kennedy fielded sharp questions from Democrats and often fawning questions from Republicans.

Addressing chronic health conditions — defined as issues that persist for a year or longer — emerged as one point of agreement for members of both parties and Kennedy.

Kim, Booker say no

In a floor speech before Kennedy’s confirmation, Kim, citing in part his father’s survival of polio and his mother’s struggle with Lyme disease, said he opposed Kennedy because he cannot be trusted.

“What you will hear from his supporters is a story of an advocate for change,” Kim said. “But unfortunately like most things coming out of this current administration, we are seeing corruption and conspiracy disguised as false promises of change.”

Booker alluded to a shared belief with Kennedy in the links between unhealthy diet and Americans’ health woes.

“There’s no question that America’s food system is painfully broken. It drives historic levels of suffering and illness,” Booker said in a statement Thursday before confirmation. “I’m always hopeful that we can make progress on these challenges and I will work with whomever wants to join with me and the millions of Americans who are demanding change.”

But Kennedy “has championed views on a number of issues that are deeply concerning to me,” Booker said, adding that the Trump administration is “flagrantly ignoring the law in its efforts to dismantle vital government programs, from health care to education to national security, while ignoring the burden of rising costs on American families.”

Kennedy has spread doubt over decades of work as an attorney about the safety of vaccines. He’s also dabbled in conspiracy theories and endorsed beliefs that run against established science, such as the notion Wi-Fi signals are linked to cancer, that coronavirus vaccines were meant to control people through computer chips, that vaccines cause autism and that HIV infections lead to AIDS.

At one of his confirmation hearings, Kennedy struggled to explain various programs in the Medicare system, a federal health insurance option for seniors created in 1965.

Vaccine denial

Kennedy’s vaccine denial has also been linked to a 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa that killed 83 people.

Kennedy’s core argument for the job was his advocacy to rein in chronic health concerns the country faces, such as diabetes, cancer, liver disease, depression and high blood pressure.

“I am in a unique position to be able to stop this epidemic,” Kennedy said of chronic diseases. “We need to refocus if we’re going to save our country.”

He’s also been a staunch critic of ultra-processed foods, a topic of interest to Booker.

‘I will not condone the re-litigation of proven cures, and neither will millions of Americans who credit their survival and quality of life to scientific miracles.’ — Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY), the only Republican to vote against Kennedy

“This is a new day for Americans and people globally who want natural products and dietary supplements as part of their balanced lifestyles,” said Daniel Fabricant, president and CEO of the National Products Association, a trade group for dietary supplements.

Lee Saunders, the president of AFSCME, a large union for federal workers, criticized Kennedy’s confirmation. “Front-line health care workers need a leader at HHS who shares their values — someone who believes, as they do, in safeguarding public health. But Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s values could not be further from the front lines.”

Strong opposition to Kennedy

Said Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-10th): “It’s disturbing that Senate Republicans have embraced such a dangerous person to control the health of the American people.”

Sen. Mitch McConnell, an 82-year-old Republican from Kentucky who contracted polio as a child, was the lone member of his party to vote against Kennedy.

“I’m a survivor of childhood polio. In my lifetime, I’ve watched vaccines save millions of lives from devastating diseases across America and around the world,” McConnell said in a statement after the confirmation. “I will not condone the re-litigation of proven cures, and neither will millions of Americans who credit their survival and quality of life to scientific miracles.”

Before Kennedy’s confirmation hearings, protestors stationed at subway stops near Capitol Hill handed out canes and T-shirts.

The white shirts read in black script: “MAKE POLIO GREAT AGAIN: RFK JR. FOR HHS SECRETARY.”