'Unimaginably far-reaching': Expert warns Trump's decision could have damaging effects

President-elect Donald Trump’s surprising pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services could have long-lasting consequences for the health and survival of the American public, according to a Washington Post health columnist.

Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and contributing columnist for the Post, revealed Friday the main reason she opposes the selection of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as HHS secretary, of which she said there are many.

“But this one matters most: his willful disregard for the scientific process,” she told readers in an op-ed.

She also called out RFK Jr.’s activist role, which she argued should be disqualifying.

“The reason Kennedy is uniquely unfit compared with past nominees is that his approach to scientific inquiry is as an activist, not a scientist,” Wen, a clinical associate professor at George Washington University, wrote. She cited as examples RFK Jr.’s staunch anti-vaxxer theories and added that he is “one of the most prominent promoters of disinformation” related to vaccines.

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Wen then warned readers, “The downstream effects of a Secretary Kennedy would be unimaginably far-reaching.”

“Who would want to lead agencies such as the CDC and FDA knowing they would report to someone who might ask them to suppress data that doesn’t comport with his world view? Who would want to work at NIH, where Kennedy has said that he would fire as many as 600 employees on Day 1?” Wen asked, adding that the safety of food and medicines could come into question “if the basis for these decisions is not the scientific method.”

She concluded her op-ed by writing that Trump's "Make America Health Again" agenda could be carried out by many other people "who do not pose such a threat to the health and survival of Americans.”