WASHINGTON — Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, a childhood polio survivor, said any nominee of President-elect Donald Trump seeking confirmation should “avoid” efforts to discredit the polio vaccine.
“Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven remedies are not only misinformed: they are dangerous,” McConnell said in a statement Friday. “Anyone seeking Senate consent to serve in the new administration would do well to avoid even any appearance of association with such efforts.”
The 82-year-old lawmaker’s statement appears to be directed at Trump’s nominee for health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., after a report that one of his advisers filed a petition to revoke the endorsement of polio vaccine in 2022. a sign that Kennedy, who has long pushed the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism, could face resistance in the Senate which will soon be controlled by the Republican Party.
“Mr. Kennedy believes that the polio vaccine should be available to the public and studied thoroughly and appropriately,” Katie Miller, Kennedy’s transition spokeswoman, said in response to questions.
The New York Times reported Friday that a lawyer who helps Kennedy vet candidates for health officials has filed a petition to have the government revoke its approval of the polio vaccine — widely believed to have stopped the disease in most parts of the world – and suspend distribution of several other vaccines. The Washington Post also confirmed the petition. The AP has not independently confirmed the petition, which was filed in 2022, according to the Times.
Vaccines have proven safe and effective in laboratory trials and in real-world use in hundreds of millions of people over decades – they are considered one of the most effective public health measures in the world. ‘history.
McConnell contracted polio at age 2 but survived, he said Friday, thanks to “the miraculous combination of modern medicine and a mother’s love.” He praised the “saving power” of the polio vaccine for the “millions of people who came after me.”
Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer also responded to the Times report on Friday. In a post on
He asked Kennedy to clarify his own position on the matter.
Trump nominated Kennedy last month, saying he would work to protect Americans “from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceuticals and food additives.”
But his nomination immediately sparked concern among scientists and public health officials, who fear Kennedy could end life-saving public health initiatives, like vaccines.
Kennedy has pushed other vaccine conspiracy theories, such as that COVID-19 may have been “ethnically targeted” to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese, comments he later said were taken out of his head. context. He repeatedly brought up the Holocaust when discussing vaccines and public health mandates.
Kennedy said he plans to overhaul the Department of Health and Human Services, an agency with sprawling scope and a $1.3 trillion budget, if approved. He suggested the Food and Drug Administration was beholden to “big pharma” and his anti-vaccine nonprofit called on him to stop using COVID-19 vaccines.
During the COVID-19 outbreak, his nonprofit group, Children’s Health Defense, asked the FDA to stop the use of all COVID vaccines. The group alleged that the FDA is beholden to “big drug companies” because it receives much of its budget from industry fees and that some employees who left the agency continued to work for pharmaceutical manufacturers. drugs.
Children’s Health Defense currently has a lawsuit against a number of news organizations, including the Associated Press, accusing them of violating antitrust laws by taking steps to identify misinformation, including about COVID-19 and vaccines against COVID-19. Kennedy took leave of the group when he announced his candidacy for president, but he is listed as one of his lawyers in the lawsuit.
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