Before endorsing Trump, Kennedy had mounted a failed bid for the presidency himself as a third party candidate. That campaign included calls for increased restrictions on food chemicals and dyes, cutting ultra-processed foods from school lunches, and forcing drug companies to share more information about vaccines.

If his nomination is ratified by the Senate and he is empowered to act on his pledges, it would mark a change in approach, not only from the Biden administration, but from Trump’s first term, which saw the government pour money into helping firms develop Covid vaccines, while taking a hands-off approach to regulation.

However, Trump also drew alarm from the industry with efforts to lower drug prices, including by making it easier to import medicine from Canada.

Paul Chaplin, chief executive of Danish firm Bavarian Nordic, which saw its shares drop more than 15%, said the industry would have to wait to see what will actually change.

But he noted that policies in Trump’s first term had actually boosted the company’s mpox and smallpox vaccine business.