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Welcome to The Logoff. At present I’m specializing in new Well being and Human Companies Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who’ll now run a number of the authorities’s largest companies — and whose coverage choices will have an effect on the well being of each American. (Particular due to Dylan Scott, who helped me wrap my head round this unconventional nominee.)
What’s the newest? The Senate voted 52-48 to substantiate Kennedy. All Democrats and each independents voted no, as did Republican Mitch McConnell. The opposite 52 Republicans voted sure.
What’s going to he be in control of? Kennedy will oversee mainly anyplace the place the federal authorities touches well being care or public well being, together with Medicare and Medicaid, the Meals and Drug Administration, and the federal hubs for illness analysis and prevention (the CDC and NIH). The FDA additionally oversees the approval of recent vaccines.
What’s Kennedy’s stance on vaccines now? Kennedy has lengthy vociferously unfold the lie that vaccines trigger autism. He was additionally publicly skeptical of the Covid vaccines. Since his nomination, Kennedy has downplayed that opposition, as a substitute emphasizing that he desires individuals to have a alternative about vaccinations.
What else ought to I learn about RFK Jr.? On some points, comparable to meals security and diet, Kennedy’s criticisms of the established order echo what many specialists are saying: that our meals system is vulnerable to illness outbreaks and leaves us ill. However medical specialists have been sounding the alarm about his embrace of conspiracy theories — each on vaccines and elsewhere.
What don’t we all know but? Will Kennedy go after vaccine improvement and approval, or stick with pushing again on vaccine mandates? Will he have the sway inside the administration, which incorporates many pro-business voices, to go after the meals system in the best way he has promised? We’ll get some clues quickly, as Trump appoints Kennedy’s prime deputies, however as of at present, we’re headed into the nice unknown.
And with that, it’s time to sign off …
Greater than 50 years after his dying, the world has a brand new Picasso portray. An infrared scan of a 1901 portray — “Portrait of Mateu Fernández de Soto” — revealed a hidden portrait beneath, considered one of a mysterious lady whose id stays unknown. I actually loved this story, each as a result of it’s enjoyable, and since it’s a reminder that the world, troubled although it’s, stays full of excellent surprises.
