Robert F. Kennedy Jr. confronted a fierce spherical of questioning from US lawmakers as we speak within the first of two affirmation hearings for his nomination to be Secretary of the Division of Well being and Human Providers (HHS).
Lots of the query posed by members of the Senate Finance Committee targeted on Kennedy’s lengthy historical past of anti-vaccine statements and positions and his connections to anti-vaccine teams, such because the Kids’s Protection Fund.
Within the weeks main as much as the hearings, Kennedy has sought to distance himself from these statements and has mentioned he won’t take vaccines away from anybody. However many public well being consultants have recommended that there is a lot he might do as HHS secretary to restrict vaccine packages, prohibit funding for vaccine analysis, and undermine People’ confidence in vaccines, significantly these given to kids.
“The receipts present that Mr. Kennedy has embraced conspiracy theories, quacks, and charlatans, particularly in terms of the security of vaccines,” Rating Member Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR), mentioned in his opening feedback. “He has made it his life’s work to sow doubt and discourage dad and mom from getting their children life-saving vaccines.”
Kennedy focuses on power well being
In his opening statements, Kennedy tried to place a few of these issues to relaxation, countering earlier reporting and saying that he was not anti-vaccine however “pro-safety” and needs US well being businesses to be clear and help “gold-standard science.”
“I imagine vaccines have a essential function in healthcare; all of my children are vaccinated,” Kennedy mentioned. However he did not utterly again away from his historical past.
“In my advocacy I’ve typically disturbed the established order by asking uncomfortable questions, and I am not going to apologize for that,” he added.
Kennedy has mentioned that he desires to deal with fixing what he calls America’s power illness epidemic, which was a serious platform of his presidential marketing campaign earlier than he dropped out of the race and endorsed then-candidate Donald Trump. He has recommended that more healthy weight-reduction plan and train can play an necessary function in stopping some power ailments and has been extremely essential of the meals and agriculture industries, pharmaceutical firms, and the healthcare business.
In his opening assertion, Kennedy highlighted these themes, stating that the USA spends extra on healthcare than some other nation and but has worse outcomes. He pledged to reverse the power illness epidemic and “put the nation again on the highway to good well being.”
“People’ general well being is in grievous situation,” Kennedy mentioned, noting that over 70% of American adults, together with 30% of youngsters, are obese or overweight and that charges of diabetes, most cancers, and auto-immune ailments have risen considerably in current many years. “President Trump has promised to revive America’s international power and to revive the American dream, however he understands we won’t be a powerful nation when our individuals are so sick.”
Because the nominee to run a division that oversees 13 working divisions and has a $1.8 trillion finances, Kennedy was requested about his views on a variety of subjects, together with healthcare reform, drug costs, abortion, substance abuse and dependancy companies, psychological well being, and agriculture.
Republican members of the committee, who largely targeted their questions on diet, power illness, and Medicare and Medicaid reform, appeared supportive of Kennedy.
“I believe that you’re the particular person to guide HHS and make America wholesome once more…and I look ahead to your affirmation,” mentioned Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS).
Spotlighting anti-vaccine views
However Democratic members of the committee repeatedly returned to Kennedy’s twenty years of anti-vaccine statements, which date again to a 2005 article revealed in Rolling Stone during which he promoted the concept childhood vaccines—particularly the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine—could also be behind the rise in autism diagnoses. The speculation was primarily based on a 1998 Lancet examine that was subsequently retracted. Scores of research, together with a Danish inhabitants examine revealed within the Annals of Inner Drugs in 2019, have discovered no proof that the MMR vaccine will increase the chance of autism.
Kennedy has additionally made disparaging remarks about COVID-19 vaccines, telling Louisiana lawmakers in 2021 that the vaccine was the “deadliest ever made,” and filed a petition with the Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) calling on the company to rescind authorization for the pictures, in keeping with the New York Instances. In December, it was reported {that a} lawyer affiliated with Kennedy had petitioned the FDA to revoke approval of the polio vaccine at present utilized in the USA.
Citing anti-vaccine feedback that Kennedy has made on quite a few podcasts over time, Sen. Wyden requested “are you mendacity to Congress as we speak, or did you lie on all these podcasts?”
“Senator, I help the measles vaccine, I help the polio vaccine, I’ll do nothing as HHS Secretary that makes it tough or discourages folks from taking vaccines,” Kennedy mentioned. He would later add that every one he desires is “good science.”
Kennedy was additionally requested about his function in a measles outbreak in Samoa that resulted in 83 deaths, primarily in kids underneath 5, and has been blamed on low measles vaccination charges. Reporting by NBC Information and different shops signifies Kennedy met with anti-vaccine teams in Samoa through the disaster. However in response to questions from Sen. Wyden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), Kennedy mentioned he arrived in Samoa properly after vaccination charges had dropped.
“Your illustration of what occurred in Samoa is mistaken,” Kennedy mentioned. “You’ll not discover any Samoan who will say ‘I didn’t get a vaccine due to Bobby Kennedy.’ “
Criticism of well being businesses
One other line of questioning targeted on Kennedy’s previous criticism of lots of the authorities businesses that he would oversee if confirmed as HHS Secretary, together with the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC), the FDA, and the Nationwide Institutes of Well being (NIH).
In a November 2023 speech to an anti-vaccine group, Kennedy mentioned that, if elected President, he would inform NIH to take a break from learning infectious ailments for 8 years. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) additionally cited current feedback has made about firing 600 NIH staff if confirmed.
“Are you conscious of how dangerous these points might be for public well being?” she requested.
“I mentioned give infectious illness a break as a result of that is been the principal preoccupation,” Kennedy mentioned. “Persistent illness accounts for 92% of deaths on this nation…however the cash goes to infectious illness.”
In response to questions from Sen. Raphael Warnock in regards to the CDC, Kennedy mentioned he agreed that CDC’s work is significant and denied feedback evaluating the work of the CDC’s baby vaccination program to Nazi dying camps and sexual abusers within the Catholic Church.
“I help the CDC,” Kennedy mentioned. “My job is to not dismantle or hurt the CDC; my job is to empower the scientists, if I’m privileged to be confirmed.”
However Kennedy additionally mentioned People are skeptical of US well being businesses after the COVID-19 pandemic, and mentioned he would handle the difficulty via “radical transparency.”
“The rationale folks do not belief the general public well being businesses is as a result of they have not been reliable,” he mentioned.
Kennedy’s nomination listening to comes amid new polling that signifies People’ religion in authorities well being businesses has continued to erode because the starting of the pandemic. The newest ballot from the Kaiser Household Basis discovered that the share of people that mentioned they’d a “nice deal” or “truthful quantity” of belief that the CDC makes the suitable suggestions fell from 66% in June 2023 to 61%, whereas belief within the FDA fell from 65% to 53%.
However solely 43% of respondents in that ballot mentioned they’d belief Kennedy to make the suitable suggestions. The survey additionally discovered that 83% of People help college vaccination necessities.
Inconsistent statements
Though some well being consultants have mentioned that they agree with a few of Kennedy’s views on power illness, weight-reduction plan, and healthcare prices and outcomes, his twenty years of anti-vaccine advocacy has drawn widespread opposition to his nomination from the medical group. A letter from the Committee to Shield Well being Care urging senators to oppose the nomination has been signed by greater than 15,000 physicians.
“RFK Jr. has a well-documented historical past of spreading harmful disinformation on vaccines and public well being interventions, leaving susceptible communities unprotected and putting thousands and thousands of lives in danger,” the letter states. “His appointment is a direct menace to the security of our sufferers and the general public at giant.”
However through the listening to, Kennedy repeatedly disputed the anti-vaccine statements attributed to him, suggesting that he did not make these statements, or that they’ve been mischaracterized or taken out of context. He additionally denied being a conspiracy theorist.
“That’s primarily a pejorative that is been utilized to me, primarily to maintain me from asking tough questions of highly effective pursuits,” he mentioned.
Democratic members of the committee argued that Kennedy’s denials of documented statements and shifting positions on vaccines and abortion—one other subject on which his present views differ from earlier positions—have been examples of why he should not be confirmed. That sentiment was echoed by CIDRAP Director Michael Osterholm, PhD, MPH, in the newest episode of the Osterholm Replace podcast. Osterholm famous that Kennedy’s denials are par for the course and expressed doubt that something he mentioned on the affirmation hearings could be trusted.
“I do not imagine something he says,” Osterholm mentioned. “When you take a look at his monitor report, he has been inconsistent on each subject that pertains to public well being.”
Kennedy could have one other listening to tomorrow earlier than the Senate Committee on Well being, Schooling, Labor and Pensions. Members of each committees will then vote on whether or not to advance his nomination.
