【中美创新时报2024 年 11 月 1 日编译讯】（记者温友平编译）据报道，反疫苗活动家罗伯特·肯尼迪 (RFK Jr.)表示，特朗普“承诺”让他“控制”该国的公共卫生机构，包括 FDA 和 CDC。《波士顿环球报》记者Jonathan Saltzman对此作了下述详细报道。
马萨诸塞州生命科学行业的知名人士正在谴责唐纳德·特朗普 (Donald Trump) 可能任命罗伯特·肯尼迪 (Robert F. Kennedy Jr.) 管理联邦公共卫生机构的可能性，如果前总统重新入主白宫，这种可能性本周势头强劲。
肯尼迪是著名民主党政治王朝的后裔，他最近以独立人士身份竞选总统，因宣扬阴谋论而登上头条新闻并获得大量支持，其中包括儿童疫苗与自闭症有关的说法，这一说法已被推翻。
几位生物技术高管表示，这些观点使他无法担任保护公众健康的职位，而特朗普已暗示他正在考虑担任这一职位。
“让一个如此反对科学、真相和证据的人担任与美国人民健康有关的领导职务，将令人深感担忧，”新成立的剑桥初创公司 City Therapeutics 的执行主席约翰·马拉加诺尔 (John Maraganore) 表示。马拉加诺尔是剑桥 Alnylam Pharmaceuticals 备受尊敬的前创始首席执行官，该公司是该州最大的本土生物技术雇主之一，使用基因沉默技术治疗遗传疾病。
特朗普承诺肯尼迪将参与他的政府工作，并任命他为共和党的过渡团队成员。特朗普尚未为肯尼迪指定潜在的工作，肯尼迪于 8 月暂停了总统竞选并支持该候选人。肯尼迪的兄弟姐妹谴责特朗普的支持是“背叛我们的父亲和家人最珍视的价值观”。
然而，在特朗普周日于麦迪逊广场花园举行的集会上，这位前总统的讲话却好像肯尼迪将领导一个公共卫生机构，他说：“我要让他在健康问题上疯狂。我要让他在食品问题上疯狂。我要让他在药物问题上疯狂。”
在本周录制的在线组织电话会议中，肯尼迪告诉支持者，特朗普“承诺”让他“控制”该国的公共卫生机构，并表示这意味着卫生与公众服务部“及其下属机构”。据《纽约时报》报道，他随后列出了疾病控制和预防中心、食品和药物管理局和国立卫生研究院。
特朗普过渡团队联合主席霍华德·卢特尼克本周表示，肯尼迪不会被选为卫生与公众服务部部长，但没有具体说明肯尼迪可能扮演什么角色。
尽管如此，几位现任和前任生命科学高管仍感到担忧。他们特别担心，长期对疫苗持怀疑态度的肯尼迪可能会在负责批准新药和疫苗的 FDA 中扮演领导角色。
Decibel Therapeutics 的退休首席执行官、剑桥 Biogen 的前执行副总裁史蒂文·霍尔茨曼 (Steven Holtzman) 表示，FDA 是“由科学驱动的监管机构的典范”。
“将该机构政治化或将其领导权让给那些认同‘民粹主义’反科学观点和言论的人将是一场悲剧，”霍尔茨曼在一封电子邮件中表示。
肯尼迪拒绝回应这些批评。但他在给《波士顿环球报》的一份声明中表示，他“非常感谢”特朗普承诺结束肯尼迪认为影响一半儿童的“慢性病流行病”。 （肯尼迪的一位发言人表示，他指的是多种疾病，包括肥胖症和糖尿病。）
“我随时准备帮助他消除公共卫生机构普遍存在的冲突和腐败，恢复其以黄金标准和循证科学为基础的传统，”肯尼迪补充道。
特朗普竞选团队没有回应置评请求。
在疫情期间，肯尼迪谴责了 COVID-19 公共卫生措施，例如口罩要求和疫苗强制令，甚至在 2022 年援引了大屠杀，当时他后悔道：“即使在希特勒的德国，你也可以越过阿尔卑斯山到达瑞士。你可以像安妮·弗兰克那样躲在阁楼里。”（他随后道歉。）
自从他暂停总统竞选以来，肯尼迪重新打造了他的竞选网站，并采用了类似于“让美国再次伟大”的口号。现在，该网站以“MAHA”或“让美国再次健康”来迎接访客。他还利用该网站出售他的书《真正的安东尼·福奇》和《武汉掩盖》。
总部位于剑桥的新成立的 City Therapeutics 公司的 Maraganore 表示，肯尼迪批评疫苗的安全性“没有任何证据——事实上，恰恰相反——这说明如果他被推上权力位置，可能会对公众健康造成危害。”
总部位于纽约的 Ovid Therapeutics 公司的首席执行官 Jeremy Levin 表示，肯尼迪在疫情期间的反疫苗行动加剧了人们对儿童疫苗的怀疑，包括预防麻疹和腮腺炎的疫苗。Levin 说，这导致了这些疾病的爆发。
“如果这现在成为下一届政府任何级别的政策，无论谁担任总统，这都可能导致灾难性的流行病席卷全国，对整个美国都构成了明显威胁，”Levin 说。
“这是一个非常可怕的时刻，”他补充道。
罗伯特·兰格 (Robert Langer) 是麻省理工学院 (MIT) 的一位多产发明家和生物医学工程教授，也是 COVID 疫苗制造商 Moderna 的联合创始人。他说，他并不担心特朗普会任命肯尼迪领导一家公共卫生机构，因为他认为参议院永远不会批准肯尼迪的任命。
“我不知道他怎么会获得批准，”兰格说，理由是肯尼迪“缺乏经验和资历”。
“我并不担心，因为我不敢相信他会被任命负责一家公共卫生机构，”兰格说。
题图：共和党总统候选人、前总统唐纳德·特朗普 (Donald Trump) 在佐治亚州德卢斯的 10 月竞选集会上与罗伯特·肯尼迪 (Robert F. Kennedy Jr.) 握手。Alex Brandon/美联社
附原英文报道：
‘A very scary moment’: Life sciences leaders blast possibility that Trump taps RFK Jr. to run public health agencies
Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist, reportedly said Trump had ‘promised’ him ‘control’ of the country’s public health agencies, including the FDA and CDC
By Jonathan Saltzman Globe Staff,Updated November 1, 2024
Republican presidential nominee former president Donald Trump shakes hands with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at an October campaign rally in Duluth, Ga.Alex Brandon/Associated Press
Prominent figures in Massachusetts’ life sciences industry are decrying the possibility, which gained momentum this week, that Donald Trump might appoint Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to run a federal public health agency if the former president regains the White House.
Kennedy, the scion of the famous Democratic political dynasty, has made headlines and drew considerable support in his recent presidential bid as an independent by championing conspiracy theories, including the discredited claim that childhood vaccines are linked to autism.
Several biotech executives say those views disqualify him for a job protecting public health, something Trump has signaled he is considering.
“It would be deeply concerning to have somebody who is so against science and truth and evidence in a leadership role related to the health of the American people,” said John Maraganore, executive chairman of the newly launched Cambridge startup City Therapeutics. Maraganore is the respected former founding chief executive of Cambridge-based Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, one of the state’s biggest homegrown biotech employers, which uses gene-silencing technology to treat genetic disorders.
Trump has pledged that Kennedy would be involved in his administration and has named him to the Republican’s transition team. Trump hasn’t specified a potential job for Kennedy, who suspended his presidential campaign in August and endorsed the candidate. Kennedy’s siblings decried the endorsement as “a betrayal of the values that our father and our family hold most dear.”
At Trump’s rally on Sunday at Madison Square Garden, however, the former president spoke as though Kennedy would lead a public health agency, saying: “I’m going to let him go wild on health. I’m going to let him go wild on the food. I’m going to let him go wild on medicines.”
In a videotaped online organizing call this week, Kennedy told supporters that Trump had “promised” him “control” of the country’s public health agencies, saying that meant the Department of Health and Human Services “and its subagencies.” He then listed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health, according to the New York Times.
Howard Lutnick, a cochair of Trump’s transition team, this week said Kennedy would not be chosen as secretary of health and human services but was not specific about what Kennedy’s role might be.
Still, several current and former life sciences executives are worried. They were particularly concerned that Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, might play a leadership role at the FDA, which approves new drugs and vaccines.
Steven Holtzman, the retired chief executive of Decibel Therapeutics and a former executive vice president at Cambridge-based Biogen, said the FDA is “the paradigm of a regulatory authority driven by science.”
“The politicization of the Agency or ceding its leadership to individuals who subscribe to ‘populist’ anti-science views and rhetoric would be a tragedy,” Holtzman said in an email.
Kennedy declined to address such criticisms. But he said in a statement to the Globe that he was “very grateful” to Trump for pledging to end “the chronic disease epidemic” that Kennedy contends affects half of children. (A spokeswoman for Kennedy said he was referring to multiple conditions, including obesity and diabetes.)
“I stand ready to help him rid the public health agencies of their pervasive conflicts and corruption and restore their tradition of gold-standard, evidence-based science,” Kennedy added.
The Trump campaign didn’t respond to requests for comment.
During the pandemic, Kennedy denounced COVID-19 public health measures such as mask requirements and vaccine mandates, and even invoked the Holocaust in 2022 when he rued that “even in Hitler’s Germany, you could cross the Alps to Switzerland. You could hide in an attic like Anne Frank did.” (He subsequently apologized.)
Since he suspended his presidential bid, Kennedy has rebranded his campaign website and adopted a slogan similar to “Make America Great Again.” Now the website greets visitors with “MAHA,” or “Make America Healthy Again.” He also uses the website to sell his books “The Real Anthony Fauci” and “The Wuhan Cover-Up.”
Maraganore, of recently launched City Therapeutics, based in Cambridge, said Kennedy has criticized the safety of vaccines “without any evidence whatsoever — in fact, quite to the contrary — and it speaks to the harm he could do to public health if he were brought in to a position of authority.”
Jeremy Levin, chief executive of New York-based Ovid Therapeutics, which has laboratories in Boston, said that Kennedy’s anti-vaccine activism during the pandemic fueled skepticism toward childhood vaccines, including those that prevent measles and mumps. That, Levin said, led to outbreaks of those diseases.
“If this now becomes policy at any level in the next administration, whoever is president, this will lead to the potential for catastrophic epidemics sweeping the country and represents a clear threat to all of the United States,” said Levin.
“This is a very scary moment,” he added.
Robert Langer, the prolific inventor and biomedical engineering professor at MIT who cofounded the COVID vaccine maker Moderna, said he wasn’t concerned that Trump would appoint Kennedy to head a public health agency because he didn’t think the Senate would ever confirm Kennedy.
“I don’t see how he would get approved,” Langer said, citing Kennedy’s “lack of experience and lack of credentials.”
“I’m not worried because I can’t believe he would be put in charge of a public health agency,” Langer said.
