Robert Kennedy Jr confirmed as health secretary by US Senate

The vote was 52-48, with Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky the lone Republican joining all 47 Democrats to vote against Kennedy, who had made pledges to protect existing vaccination programs in a bid to secure the votes of hesitant lawmakers.

The Senate has confirmed Robert F Kennedy Jr as President Donald Trump’s health secretary.

The approval puts the prominent vaccine sceptic in control of 1.7 trillion dollars of federal spending, vaccine recommendations and food safety as well as health insurance programmes for roughly half the country.