Trump’s nominee to oversee key US health agencies is a vaccine denier and experts predict the return of diseases ‘we have controlled for decades’

Robert F Kennedy Jr, the man Donald Trump has nominated to oversee key US health agencies, rose to national prominence as one of the most persistent and influential vaccine deniers in the country.

Kennedy, 70, backed Trump after ending his own third-party bid for president in August. He is the son of the former attorney general and presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy and the nephew of president John F Kennedy.