US president-elect Donald Trump has given his first public speech since the election – praising noted anti-vaxxer Robert F Kennedy jr, who he announced on Thursday would become the nation’s top health official.

Kennedy, a lawyer and environmental activist, was an independent contender for president before dropping out in August and endorsing Trump, in exchange for a role in the Republican’s administration.

“Don’t get too popular, Bobby. You have reached about the level now,” Trump said in his speech to a gala for the right-wing think tank America First Policy Institute at Mar-a-Lago estate on Thursday (US time).

“We want you to come up with things and ideas and what you have been talking about for a long time and I think you are going to do some unbelievable things. Nobody is going to be able to do it like you – and, boy, does he feel it in his heart.”

But after Thursday’s announcement, Robert Weissman, the co-president of consumer rights think tank Public Citizen said Kennedy was “a clear and present danger to the nation’s health”.

“He shouldn’t be allowed in the building at the Department of Health and Human Services, let alone be placed in charge of the nation’s public health agency,” he said.

“Donald Trump’s bungling of public health policy during the Covid pandemic cost hundreds of thousands of lives. By appointing Kennedy as his secretary of HHS, Trump is courting another, policy-driven public health catastrophe.”

Elon and President Trump look dashing in a bow ties! They are welcoming President of Argentina Javier Milei. pic.twitter.com/j3duLAU020

— Gail Alfar (@GailAlfarATX) November 15, 2024

The Department of Health and Human Services oversees the Food and Drug Administration, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Institutes of Health and the massive Medicare and Medicaid Services programs, which provide health coverage for the poor, those aged 65 and older, and the disabled.

Kennedy, the son and nephew of two titans of Democratic politics, has been a part of Trump’s transition team and has been reviewing candidate resumes for the top jobs at US health agencies.

On X and interviews in recent weeks, Kennedy has indicated his priorities include addressing what he calls the “chronic disease epidemic” of conditions including obesity, diabetes and autism, and reducing chemicals in food.

Despite high levels of spending on health care and pharmaceuticals, Americans are unhealthier than their peers in wealthy countries around world, according to a report from the Commonwealth Fund in 2023.

Kennedy also suggested he would gut the 18,000-employee Food and Drug Administration – which ensures the safety of food, drugs and medical devices – and replace hundreds of employees at the National Institutes of Health.

“FDA’s war on public health is about to end,” he wrote on X in late October, adding that includes its “aggressive suppression” of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, sunshine, and other items.

“If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags,” he wrote.

In early November, he said he would recommend fluoride be removed from public water supplies, falsely claiming on X that the chemical is associated with bone fractures and cancer. The American Dental Association says the decades-old intervention reduces tooth decay by more than 25 per cent in adults and children.

Kennedy has been criticised for making false medical claims, including that vaccines are linked to autism. He opposed state and federal restrictions imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic and was accused of spreading misinformation about the virus.

He disputes the anti-vaccine tag, saying he wants more rigorous testing of vaccines instead. However, he chaired the Children’s Health Defence, a nonprofit organisation that focuses on anti-vaccine messaging.

His anti-vaccination views and influence has also been blamed by some for worsening a deadly measles outbreak in Samoa that killed dozens of children in 2019.

Kennedy, who first sought the Democratic nomination before becoming an independent, had a rocky presidential run marked by attention-grabbing media headlines.

During his campaign, he acknowledged in a video posted online that he dumped a dead bear in New York City’s Central Park a decade ago and staged it to look like a bike had hit it. He proclaimed he had “so many skeletons in my closet” after a former family babysitter accused him of sexual assault. He denied that a large animal in a picture of him posing with a barbecued carcass belonged to a canine.

Kennedy’s campaign also confirmed a report that he had a parasite in his brain more than a decade ago, but has since fully recovered.

-with AAP