WASHINGTON — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed by the Senate as President Trump’s secretary of Health and Human Services on Thursday, capping a contentious fight over his skepticism on vaccines that had divided Republicans.

Senators voted 52-48 to place Kennedy, 71, atop the nation’s health bureaucracy with oversight of a budget of roughly $1.7 trillion.

Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), along with every Democrat, opposed Kennedy’s confirmation.

Trump, 78, knocked McConnell during Kennedy’s swearing-in ceremony later at the White House — and announced that the Democrat-turned-independent will chair a new Make America Healthy Again Commission.

“Bobby created a nationwide movement made up of millions and millions of mothers and fathers and young people and concerned citizens of every background to end this horrible chronic disease crisis that exists in America,” Trump said.

“He’s absolutely committed to getting dangerous chemicals out of our environment, and out of our food supply, and getting the American people the facts and the answers that we deserve after years in which our public health system has squandered the trust of our citizens.”

Kennedy thanked Trump for having “kept his word” in “every promise he’s made to me” after endorsing his onetime Republican opponent for the presidency in late 2024.

“For 20 years, I got down every morning on my knees and prayed that God would put me in a position where I can end childhood chronic disease epidemic in this country,” he said. “On August 23 of last year, God sent me President Trump.”

The newly installed HHS chief also called the president a “pivotal historical figure” who is “going to transform this country at a time when we see all of the condition of democracy now in tatters in our country.”

RFK Jr., a longtime environmental lawyer and vaccine skeptic, had received assurances this week from Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) that they would back him, easing the path to Trump’s cabinet.

“I continue to have concerns about Mr. Kennedy’s views on vaccines and his selective interpretation of scientific studies, which initially caused my misgivings about his nomination,” Murkowski said Wednesday.

“Vaccines have saved millions of lives, and I sought assurance that, as HHS secretary, he would do nothing to make it difficult for people to take vaccines or discourage vaccination efforts.

“He has made numerous commitments to me and my colleagues, promising to work with Congress to ensure public access to information and to base vaccine recommendations on data-driven, evidence-based, and medically sound research,” she added.

“These commitments are important to me and, on balance, provide assurance for my vote.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who chairs the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee that vetted RFK Jr., had also thrown his weight behind Trump’s HHS nom after receiving a commitment that the two would meet regularly and that Kennedy, a physician, would tout the importance of immunizations.

The son of the late attorney general and senator from New York had spent years disparaging the safety and efficacy of vaccines for polio, measles and hepatitis B, writing several books on the subject and founding the nonprofit Children’s Health Defense, which has sued the government and pharmaceutical companies over vaccines.

Those remarks became the subject of attacks by members of his former party during Kennedy’s confirmation hearings in the Senate HELP and Finance committees — and nearly derailed his chance to shore up Republican support even as he repeatedly said he was “pro-vaccine.”

“I’m a survivor of childhood polio. In my lifetime, I’ve watched vaccines save millions of lives from devastating diseases across America and around the world,” McConnell said in a statement after the vote. “I will not condone the re-litigation of proven cures, and neither will millions of Americans who credit their survival and quality of life to scientific miracles.”

“Individuals, parents, and families have a right to push for a healthier nation and demand the best possible scientific guidance on preventing and treating illness,” he added. “But a record of trafficking in dangerous conspiracy theories and eroding trust in public health institutions does not entitle Mr. Kennedy to lead these important efforts.”

RFK Jr. also backed off or downplayed other outlandish statements about Lyme disease being a military-engineered “bioweapon,” COVID-19 being “ethnically targeted” against black and Caucasian people, and refusing to “take sides” on the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the US — as recently as last year.

Despite Kennedy fumbling questions on the distinctions between Medicare and Medicaid, most Republicans had supported Trump’s HHS pick throughout the confirmation process — including Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), whose panel vetted Kennedy.

“Mr. Kennedy’s decades of experience and deep drive to advocate on behalf of consumers will set a patient-centered tone at the department,” Crapo said in a floor speech Wednesday, citing “his passion for addressing America’s chronic disease epidemic.”

That movement — known by its “Make America Healthy Again” moniker — had received an endorsement from even far-left Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), but neither the Democratic socialist nor Kennedy’s ex-law school classmate Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) broke ranks with their party to confirm him.

In his first confirmation hearing, Kennedy had drawn attention to startling figures about chronic disease and rising obesity in the US.

“When my uncle was president, 3% of Americans were obese. Today, 74% of Americans are obese or overweight,” RFK Jr. told Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) in the hearing. “Epidemics are not caused by genes. Something is poisoning the American people, and we know that the primary culprit’s our changing food supply.”

Kennedy chose Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch to administer the oath of office to him later at the White House.

In a brief speech, he said his “plans are radical transparency and returning gold standard science” at the agencies he oversees such as the “NIH, the FDA and CDC.”

“Ending the corruption, ending the corporate capture of those agencies, getting rid of the people on those panels that have conflicts of interest,” he went on, “we can do unadorned and unimpeded science rather than the kind of product that is coming out of those agencies.”

Kennedy’s wife Cheryl Hines and other family members, along with Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), as well as Georgia Republican Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Buddy Carter, were also in attendance.