Bill Gates has warned against Robert F. Kennedy Jr. being in charge of America’s health, alleging that the known vaccine conspiracy theorist is ‘misleading people’.
RFK Jr is President Donald Trump’s first pick for health secretary but has yet to be confirmed for the role by the Senate. A committee will vote Tuesday on whether to advance his nomination.
Kennedy, in contentious confirmation hearings last week, was accused of being financially vested in the anti-vaccine movement and peddling debunked conspiracy theories about vaccines – assertions RFK Jr rejects.
But the billionaire Microsoft co-founder, 69, has dismissed Kennedy’s claims that he isn’t anti-vaccination, telling the BBC – which spoke to him ahead of the release of the new documentary “The Making of Bill Gates” – that he believes the health secretary pick is ‘misleading’ the American people.
He also threw his support behind initiatives to restrict social media for minors under the age of 16, saying that society needs to be “very careful how it gets used.”
“Social networking, even more than video gaming, can absorb your time and make you worry about other people approving you,” he said, adding he thinks there is a “good chance” officials in the US will pass a social media age ban – similar to the legislation enacted in Australia last year.
It comes after Gates, in an interview last month to promote his upcoming memoir Source Code: My Beginnings shared his thoughts on Elon Musk, who has been given the reigns of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) by Trump.
Gates mentioned he hasn’t spoken directly with Musk since he gained influence among Trump’s allies but said he “admired a lot of the work he’s done.” However, Gates expressed concern over proposed cuts to certain government departments, including the agency responsible for providing humanitarian aid abroad, which helps distribute HIV medications.
A Senate committee will vote Tuesday on whether to advance Trump’s nomination of RFK Jr to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
If confirmed, Kennedy would run the department, which oversees more than $3 trillion in healthcare spending, including agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration and the agency in charge of Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programs covering tens of millions of Americans.
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