Kennedy managed to allay the concerns of several key GOP senators over his anti-vaccine activism. Mitch McConnell was the lone Republican to vote against him.

WASHINGTON -- The Senate is expected to vote Thursday on the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr ., a prominent lawyer and vocal vaccine critic, as the nation's health secretary, controlling $1.7 trillion in spending for vaccines, food safety and health insurance programs for roughly half the country.

Kennedy Jr., a vocal vaccine skeptic and activist lawyer, was confirmed Thursday as the nation's new health secretary. The Senate voted largely along party lines to put Kennedy at the helm of the $1.7 trillion U.