WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Newly confirmed Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday accused US institutions of “stealing the health of our children” and suggested they should meet the same fate as USAID, which President Donald Trump’s administration is working to slash.

On his first day in office, RFK Jr. — who has spent decades sowing distrust in vaccines and questioning basic scientific facts — credited divine intervention for his rise to power and immediately fueled concerns that critical health agencies could soon come under attack.

At his White House swearing-in ceremony, following a 52-48 Senate confirmation vote largely along party lines, Kennedy grew emotional recalling his first visit to the Oval Office in 1962.

He also lavished praise on Trump, saying 20 years of prayers to solve chronic childhood diseases were answered when “God sent me President Trump,” whom he called a “man on a white horse.”

Kennedy argued that while USAID was founded by his uncle, slain president John F. Kennedy, with noble intentions, it has since become a “sinister propagator of totalitarianism.”

He backed Trump’s recent actions at the humanitarian agency, adding, “we want to do the same thing with the institutions that are stealing the health of our children.”