Nobel Laureates warn against a Robert F. Kennedy Jr.-led Department of Health and Human Services

NINA MOINI: Nobel Prize laureates are pushing back against President-elect Donald Trump's choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. In a letter from earlier this week, they asked senators to oppose Robert F Kennedy Jr.'s confirmation to the job. They said he would quote, "put the public's health in jeopardy and undermine America's global leadership in the health sciences."

Kennedy has promoted conspiracy theories, including one that says COVID-19 was created to Target certain racial groups and give other groups immunity. He has also denied the link between HIV and AIDS, a scientific discovery that has helped to treat and prevent AIDS around the world. And he's embraced the debunked theory that childhood vaccines cause autism.

President-elect Trump was asked about this last claim in an interview with NBC News reporter Kristen Welker last weekend.

DONALD TRUMP: I think a lot of good things are going to come from him, and he's not going to upset any system. He's not going to upset the system. He's not looking to reinvent the wheel, totally. But when you look at the numbers, we really don't have a very healthy country.

KIRSTEN WELKER: Sir, going back 25 years, studies show that there is no link between vaccines and autism. And yet, it sounds like you are open to the possibility of him looking at getting rid of them?

DONALD TRUMP: I'm open to anything. I think somebody has to find out.

NINA MOINI: Joining me now to talk about this is Dr. Brian Kobilka, a 2012 Nobel Laureate in chemistry. He's originally from right here, Little Falls, Minnesota, and attended the University of Minnesota Duluth. He's now a professor at Stanford University. Thank you for being with us, doctor.

BRIAN KOBILKA: I'm happy to join you.

NINA MOINI: I'm curious, how did you first hear that some of your fellow laureates were planning to make a statement on this nomination?

BRIAN KOBILKA: Probably a couple of weeks ago. Richard Roberts is very active in these kinds of issues, and I really acknowledge his stewardship in helping us to use whatever credibility we have to focus on important issues, and this is a really important issue.

NINA MOINI: Yeah, and correct me if I'm wrong, but I understand that Nobel Prize winners don't often take a stand against a nomination, and that they usually try to stay out of politics. Why did you decide to join this statement? Why did you feel like this was important?

BRIAN KOBILKA: Because if approved, Mr. Kennedy would lead the three most important health administrations in the country. That would be the FDA, Center for Disease Control, and the National Institutes of Health. And he has no experience. I think he's a lawyer with-- who focuses on environmental issues. He has no training in science at all. And we really need somebody who is highly qualified to take on this position. I'm really concerned about the damage he might do.

NINA MOINI: And your expertise or your area of focus isn't necessarily in vaccines. But as a doctor and a scientist, what worries you that could happen to perhaps the nation's vaccine program if Kennedy was to be confirmed?

BRIAN KOBILKA: Well, what I think about is, what would happen if when COVID erupted in the United States and around the world if he had been head of Health and Human Services and imposed his belief in vaccines. We wouldn't-- probably wouldn't have developed vaccines or wouldn't have had the kind of government support and a ready availability of these vaccines throughout the country.

So I think if something else comes up, I wouldn't want him to guide our development of new vaccines. I mean, he doesn't believe in them and he might even prevent scientists from working on these projects.

NINA MOINI: In the clip that we played off the top there of President-elect Trump, he said that Kennedy wouldn't upset any systems, or he said that along the way, but also seems open to some of these conspiracy theories. What do you think about just President-elect Trump's stance on this? Do you take any comfort in that he says that Kennedy wouldn't upset any systems?

BRIAN KOBILKA: No. I mean, we know that Donald Trump isn't exactly truthful. And so I have no confidence that he would rein in Kennedy.

NINA MOINI: You feel like it's just a lot of unknowns right now. I'm curious just about this idea of people being anti-establishment or anti-experts, anti-science. How are you talking with your students about this at Stanford? How do you feel about just this push toward not believing experts?

BRIAN KOBILKA: To be honest with you, I don't think that it's come up. I think most of the students that I work with in my lab recognize that this is not a good decision for the government to make with someone who has no experience in science a head of the agency most responsible for the health care and development of novel therapies in the United States. Yeah, I think we're all on the same page, And, they realize that-- and I have many students or postdocs from--

[SNEEZE]

Excuse me. From Asia and Europe. And even they're concerned that the impact of decisions made by the Trump administration and by Kennedy could impact even broader range of individuals in-- throughout the world, not just in the United States.

NINA MOINI: Sure. Before I let you go, doctor, I do want to ask, what is next for you and maybe this group that signed on to this letter? Do you think the letter is going to have much of an impact? And where would you go from here?

BRIAN KOBILKA: It's my hope that the Senate, there'll be enough reasonable people in the Senate to take this reservation this--

NINA MOINI: Nomination.

BRIAN KOBILKA: --appointment. Yeah. So I'm sort of optimistic. I can't see how even the majority of Republicans would see this as a good idea.

NINA MOINI: OK, thank you so much for sharing your time with us this afternoon, and we'll see what happens as all of this unfolds. Appreciate your time.

BRIAN KOBILKA: OK Thank you. Bye.

NINA MOINI: That was Dr. Brian Kobilka, Professor at Stanford University who won the 2012 Nobel Prize in chemistry. He grew up in Little Falls, Minnesota.