Immediately after being sworn in, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is being given the opportunity to make America, especially America’s children, healthy again. We pray God would help him in this endeavor!

From The Epoch Times. Immediately after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Feb. 13, he was tasked with heading up a commission primarily focused on childhood health.

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Kennedy is the chairman of the new President’s Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) Commission, created by President Donald Trump via executive order.

The commission directs executive departments and federal agencies to primarily advise the president on how to “address the childhood chronic disease crisis.”

It is tasked to explore contributing causes to childhood chronic diseases such as “the American diet, absorption of toxic material, medical treatments, lifestyle, environmental factors, government policies, food production techniques, electromagnetic radiation, and corporate influence or cronyism.” …

Six in 10 Americans have at least one chronic disease, and four in 10 have two or more chronic diseases, according to the executive order. It’s also estimated that one in five adults in the United States lives with a mental illness.

Seventy-seven percent of young adults do not qualify for the military based, in large part, on their health scores, and 90 percent of the nation’s $4.5 trillion in annual health care spending is for people with chronic and mental health conditions, according to a White House fact sheet.

“In short, Americans of all ages are becoming sicker, beset by illnesses that our medical system is not addressing effectively. These trends harm us, our economy, and our security,” the order reads.

The President’s MAHA Commission will demonstrate “gold-standard research on why Americans are getting sick in all health-related research funded by the federal government,” the fact sheet states.

Within 100 days (by ​​May 22), the commission will deliver an initial assessment of potential factors that contribute to the chronic disease epidemic, the order states. A national Make Our Children Healthy Again strategy will be presented within 180 days.

The commission includes the heads of the Environmental Protection Agency; the departments of Agriculture, Veterans Affairs, Education, and Housing and Urban Development; and several economic advisers. The FDA commissioner, the CDC director, and the NIH director will also be involved. …

‘Radical Transparency’

Kennedy has said that “radical transparency and returning gold-standard science to the NIH, the FDA and CDC,” and “ending the corporate capture of those agencies” that led to compromised science are two parts of his plan.

These dovetail with the commission’s objectives.

Federally funded health research should “avoid conflicts of interest,” empower Americans through transparency and open-source data, “and should avoid or eliminate conflicts of interest that skew outcomes and perpetuate distrust,” the White House said regarding the commission. …

Kennedy said he believes that little will change in the health arena until corporate influence on the FDA, the CDC, and the Department of Agriculture (USDA) is addressed. …

Working With Agriculture Secretary

Kennedy is expected to work with Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins on several initiatives, aside from the new commission.

The USDA and HHS have a late 2025 deadline to complete the 2025–2030 edition of the Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Rollins said on Feb. 14 that she will also work with Kennedy and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency to restrict Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, also known as food stamps, to healthier items. …

Vaccine Safety

Kennedy has faced criticism about his perceived vaccine stances since he announced his presidential run. …

After he was sworn in, Kennedy told Fox News that he intends to create a more accurate vaccine injury reporting and surveillance system than the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS.

“We will do that right away,” he said. “We need to know the risk profile of these products.”

Trump said last year that he would also give Kennedy the freedom to investigate the potential link between vaccines and autism.

Kennedy has said for years that autism in some children is likely tied to childhood vaccines, which many states mandate for all school children. …

Chemicals, Ultra-Processed Foods

A staunch advocate for regulating chemicals in food, Kennedy has suggested that Americans should return to using tallow fat instead of seed oils. He has chastised food manufacturers for using ingredients such as artificial dyes.

Kennedy has said that he will address this topic as HHS secretary. …

“In America, 74 percent of adults are now overweight or obese, including 50 percent of our children,” Kennedy said in August 2024. “One hundred and twenty years ago, when someone was obese, they were sent to the circus. In Japan, the childhood obesity rate is 3 percent.”

Kennedy also described the dramatic increase in adult and juvenile diabetes, neurological diseases, and fatty liver disease and cancer cases.

“So what’s causing all this suffering? I’ll name two culprits. First and the worst is ultra-processed foods. … The second culprit is toxic chemicals in our food, our medicine, and our environment,” he said. …

Share your prayers and scriptures for America’s children below.

(Excerpt from The Epoch Times. Photo Credit: Official White House Photo by Joyce Boghosian)