The first post-Covid presidential election elevates the antivax movement

Robert F Kennedy Jr, vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theorist, says Trump promised him control of health policy

Donald Trump will be propelled to the White House for a second term amid concerns about inflation kicked off by the pandemic, with a leading vaccine skeptic – Robert F Kennedy Jr – at his side, and proposals from conservative supporters to fundamentally restructure public health agencies central to pandemic-era ire.

Covid-19 was never seen as the central issue of the 2024 presidential campaign season, but in the first post-pandemic presidential election, it reverberated as the anti-vaccine movement ascended to its greatest political heights ever.