On Feb. 13, the Senate voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Senate held two confirmation hearings for Kennedy, a former Democrat who briefly ran as an independent candidate in the 2024 presidential election before dropping out of the race and endorsing President Donald Trump. He was confirmed with a 52-48 vote.
Kennedy was nominated by Trump back in November, shortly after the election, and quickly became a controversial cabinet pick for his polarizing, and often harmful, views on key health issues like vaccines, abortion, and gender-affirming care.
Senators largely voted along party lines — all the Democrats voted against Kennedy’s nomination, as did the two independent senators. All Republican senators voted in favor of Kennedy’s nomination, except one: Mitch McConnell, who cited his own childhood experience recovering from polio as reason why he couldn’t vote for a candidate who frequently casts doubt on the efficacy of vaccines.
Since Kennedy is now officially at the helm of one of the most essential government departments that influences the health of Americans, here’s a breakdown of the most pressing health issues that could directly impact college students, as well as Kennedy’s stance on each.
Reproductive rights
While Kennedy has previously stated his support for the federal right to abortion, he changed his tune quickly after joining Trump’s circle.
Reproductive rights and access to abortion care were central targets of the Trump campaign, and Kennedy has said that he plans to fall in line with the administration’s goals. While Trump frequently used the argument of “leaving it up to the states” (aka, letting each state vote to make their own legislation about at what point in a pregnancy abortion is a legal option), some of his stated goals for the Health Department contradict that.
During one of his Senate hearings, for example, Kennedy said that Trump has requested he “look at the safety issues” of mifepristone, the most common abortion medication. In an effort to get the drug taken off shelves, anti-abortion groups often cite studies that were retracted for poor methodology, when in reality, the drug has been extensively researched and found to have fewer adverse outcomes than acetaminophen (the active ingredient in Tylenol.) If accessing mifepristone becomes more difficult under Kennedy, people in need of abortion care might have a harder time accessing it, especially in already restrictive states.
Vaccines
Remember RFK Jr getting confirmed when we have multiple large scale measles and polio outbreaks
— evan loves worf (@esjesjesj) February 13, 2025
Despite having neither a medical nor a science degree, Kennedy has made headlines in the past for promoting conspiracy theories about vaccines, like the debunked theory that vaccines cause autism. During his Senate hearing, Kennedy refused to straightforwardly acknowledge that vaccines do not cause autism, despite there being many high quality studies that find no link between the two.
Another vaccine Kennedy has spread misinformation about is the Gardasil vaccine, which is meant to prevent cervical cancer that can be caused by the human papillomavirus, or HPV. Gardasil is recommended for preteens and teens to protect against HPV infections, and has been proven safe by the CDC.
Kennedy was also confronted in his confirmation hearing about comments he made perpetuating racist stereotypes in the medical field with no scientific backing. “We should not be giving Black people the same vaccine schedule that’s given to whites because their immune system is better than ours,” Kennedy said in a 2021 interview. When Democratic Senator Angela Alsobrooks from Maryland, one of two Black women in the Senate, asked Kennedy what vaccine schedule he would recommend for her, he stood by his claims that Black people need fewer antigens — a dangerous generalization that could very well have real-world implications under Kennedy’s direction.
Gender-affirming care
Kennedy will have a big impact on how difficult it will be for transgender people to receive gender-affirming care, especially minors. In his Senate confirmation hearing, Kennedy said he would support reversing the Biden administration’s work to expand transgender care, which included protecting gender-affirming procedures, and prohibiting conversion therapy and gender discrimination in healthcare.
Kennedy’s statements opposing all gender-affirming care for minors plays on a common misconception that it’s easy for trans youths to receive gender-affirming surgeries, when in reality, that has been disproven. A study from Harvard University T.H. Chan School of Public Health found that gender-affirming surgeries are very rarely performed on trans youth, with zero performed on children ages 12 and younger, and 2.1 per 100,000 for teens ages 15 to 17 in the study year. Additionally, puberty blockers, another medication given to some trans youths, have evidence of being safe and reversible.
Additionally, it’s worth highlighting that gender-affirming care doesnt just affect a person’s physical features; according to medical experts, transgender children who have access to gender-affirming care have much lower rates of considering suicide than those without access.
Medicaid
As Secretary of Health, Kennedy will be in charge of overseeing the programs Medicaid (the nation’s public health insurance program for people with low income) and Medicare (a federal health insurance program for people age 65 or older). Kennedy said during his confirmation hearing that Medicaid, which is essential to many low-income adults, children, elderly, and people with disabilities, isn’t producing “positive health outcomes” — even though studies show that Medicaid’s expansion under the Affordable Care Act led to a reduction in deaths of all causes.
Amid Trump’s federal funding freeze, it’s possible that the GOP will target public health insurance programs like these as places they can cut costs to raise funds for “higher priorities” like tax cuts and border security.
While Kennedy’s confirmation as Secretary of Health will certainly have significant effects on many communities, it’s important to keep in mind that he alone cannot make drastic changes, like repealing vaccine mandates or abolishing public health programs. That’s why it is now more important than ever to keep up to date with major health news, — and be sure you’re taking care of your mental health.