Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed as President Trump’s health secretary last week, and there’s a reason people are shocked and fearful about this nomination.

RFK Jr. is known for making false claims with no backing, a quality that a health leader should never have, and he has multiple topics on which he seems to have misconstrued ideas.

According to a BBC article, one of his most prominent false ideas is that vaccines cause autism, although evidence has now refuted that.

The article also highlights RFK’s negative feelings toward fluoride in the country’s drinking water. In a post on X, he said, “On January 20, the Trump White House will advise all U.S​. water systems to remove fluoride from public water. Fluoride is an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders, and thyroid disease.”

The pattern is evidenced again by RFK’s claims that COVID-19 targets caucasian and black people, with Chinese and Ashkenazi Jews being most immune, a statement made at a press event and posted by the New York Post, which also has no scientific backing.

With all this misinformation spread from his mouth, I’m scared to have him in charge of everyone’s health. After being confirmed, he has made his next steps clear.

According to an AP article, to earn the vote as health secretary, RFK promised Louisiana senator Bill Cassidy that he wouldn’t change the current vaccination schedule; however, he now plans to investigate the childhood vaccine schedule.

He stated that he would investigate “…taboo or insufficiently scrutinized” issues regarding vaccines for children.

The article also states that Kennedy said nothing would be off limits, including pesticides, food additives, microplastics, antidepressants and the electromagnetic waves emitted by cellphones and microwaves, which will all be studied.

While I believe it’s important to know the effects of all those things, I don’t think that he should be calling the shots since he’s obviously misinformed on several health-related topics.

A USA Today article says that immediately following Kennedy’s confirmation as health secretary, Trump instructed his administration to assess the “threat” posed to children by the prescription of SSRIs, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, stimulants and weight-loss drugs.

The article says in 2024, RFK speculated that antidepressants could explain the rise in school shootings despite no evidence implying this.

This topic specifically scares me because SSRIs and antidepressants are something commonly misunderstood by the general public. While I think it’s important that these medications are thoroughly researched, understood and regulated, I fear that access to the medicines for children may be diminished.

No matter how harmful the effects are, sometimes giving a child an SSRI is the only thing that can help to keep them alive right now. As an eleven-year-old child, I was diagnosed with anxiety and depression, and at this age, I wanted to die because my anxiety was so bad.

Without the help of SSRIs, therapy and other mental health resources, I don’t think I could’ve pushed through my struggles throughout middle and high school. During this time of hormones and stress, sometimes a child needs access to these medications, no matter the risk.

The health secretary of our country should be someone with medical backing or, at the very least, any valid medical knowledge. I don’t think someone who has consistently misinformed the public on serious topics should be the one in charge.

Kate Beske is a 21-year-old journalism senior from Destrehan, La.