The vote capped a remarkable rise for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who was confirmed by a Republican Senate in a chamber where his father and uncles once served as Democrats.

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.

Kennedy will oversee some of the federal government’s largest public health agencies, including the NIH, FDA, and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services