Kennedy as Minister of Health: Does the United States face a vaccination crisis?

Kennedy as Minister of Health: Does the United States face a vaccination crisis?

The political setting in the USA is currently strongly shaped by the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the new Minister of Health. Kennedy, who originally started as an independent candidate in the presidential election, withdrew and now supported Donald Trump. For this he assumed a role in his government. The focus of his new administration will be based on on the impression of chronic diseases. Kennedy plans to restructure the Ministry of Health, which is to reorganize 28 areas in 15 new departments, including the new "Administration for a Healthy America" (AHA).

Kennedy, the nephew of the murdered President John F. Kennedy and son of the Minister of Justice Robert F. Kennedy, is not undisputed. Critics accuse him of spreading false information about vaccines and undermining trust in the health authorities. His anti -science positions contradict the necessary qualifications of a Minister of Health. This ensures violent reactions in the scientific community, such as mimikama

controversy and challenges in healthcare

The challenges with which Kennedy is confronted are considerable. There were already massive job cancellations in the public service under the Trump government. The Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) under Elon Musk proposes to shorten over 100,000 jobs in the Federal Civil Service and has already initiated thousands of layoffs in the FDA. These restructuring means that the FDA is now fighting with an increasing number of applications, which endangers compliance with deadlines for the examination of medical devices and tobacco products. According to Kleine Zeitung , scientists report that they have to be processed twice as many applications while other tasks are reset.

Another urgent problem is the increase in measles cases in the USA. Despite previous successes in the containment of the disease, Texas and New Mexico have had over 130 new cases since the beginning of 2025, including the first death in ten years of a child who has not been vaccinated. Experts warn of an upcoming health crisis, which is caused by falling vaccination rates and the spread of false information about vaccinations, such as n-tv extensively illuminated. The vaccination rate for preschool children fell from 95 % in 2019 to less than 93 % in 2023, while in some states there are drastically lower installments.

Kennedy itself has described the current measles outbursts as not surprisingly and has been criticized for questioning the safety of vaccines. This attitude is particularly worrying because experts emphasize that such views can result in the endangerment of children with increased risk. The distrust of vaccinations is diverse and is further reinforced by social media.

future prospects of the Ministry of Health