Colorado Governor Jared Polis lauded Kennedy for working to « defeat vaccine mandates » in his state.
Democratic Colorado Governor Jared Polis remains wary but is « excited » by President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the director of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist who was included on a 2021 list of the 12 people spreading the bulk of misinformation about vaccines online, was named as Trump’s choice lead the country’s top health agency on Thursday.
While a number of health experts were alarmed by Trump’s pick and many Democrats appeared less than thrilled with the prospect of Kennedy as HHS secretary, Polis said that he was « excited » by the news.
In a post to X, formerly Twitter, the Democratic governor recalled how Kennedy helped him « defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019″—referring to vaccine requirements in schools for diseases like polio, which killed or paralyzed millions of adults and children before vaccination was widely available.
« I’m excited by the news that the President-Elect will appoint @RobertKennedyJr to @HHSGov », Polis wrote. « He helped us defeat vaccine mandates in Colorado in 2019 and will help make America healthy again by shaking up HHS and FDA [the Food and Drug Administration]. »
« 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 [agricultural] oligopoly to improve our health », he added.
