It was during a visit to the state of Michigan that the Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump announced that Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has made several statements about vaccines and promoted conspiracy theories in recent years, has perfect qualifications for a high-level job.
He will have an important role in healthcare. He knows the area better than anyone else, Trump said to reporters on Friday, local time.
Trump said he strongly sympathizes with some of Kennedy's opinions, but avoided answering questions about whether he specifically agrees with Kennedy's rhetoric regarding vaccines.
Kennedy is the son of Robert F "Bobby" Kennedy, who was murdered when he was running for president in 1968, and the nephew of President John F Kennedy. He himself ran for president ahead of this autumn's election, first as a Democrat and then as an independent candidate, but dropped out to support Trump.
In recent decades, he has become a leading figure in the global anti-vaccine movement and has, among other things, called the covid-19 vaccine "the deadliest thing ever made".
For 19 years, I have been praying every morning, without a single exception, that God will put me in a position where I can put an end to this chronic disease epidemic, said Robert F Kennedy at a Trump campaign rally on Friday.
