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Kennedy faces GOP criticism over vaccine claims in Senate hearing

REUTERS / NATHAN HOWARD
                                Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s nominee to be secretary of Health and Human Services, testifies before a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, today.

REUTERS / NATHAN HOWARD

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s nominee to be secretary of Health and Human Services, testifies before a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, today.

WASHINGTON >> Robert F. Kennedy Jr, President Donald Trump’s pick to run the top U.S. health agency, argued today that his controversial views on vaccines were misrepresented in a charged Senate Health committee hearing, with the top Republican saying he had reservations about the nominee’s “misleading arguments.”

“Your past of undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments concerns me,” Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician from Louisiana, told Kennedy. “I have constituents who partly credit you for their decision to not vaccinate their child.”

The hearing was the second in two days for Kennedy during which he squared off with Democrats and some Republicans over his past comments on vaccines, abortion and COVID-19 among other topics.

The Finance Committee has not yet said if it will send Kennedy’s nomination to the Republican-controlled Senate, which has not rejected any of Trump’s nominees so far.

During wide-ranging questioning today, Kennedy spoke more confidently than the day prior, adjusting the characterization of previous statements, and saying he would support the U.S. children’s vaccination schedule, research and development for bird flu, and scientific data on vaccine safety.

Kennedy also said he would address rapidly increasing rates of chronic disease.

“Our country is not going to be destroyed because we get the marginal tax rate wrong. It is going to be destroyed if we get this issue wrong,” he said of chronic diseases. “And I am in a unique position to be able to stop this epidemic.”

He was asked about comments he has made over decades, including that it was “highly likely” that Lyme disease was a military bioweapon. He said he never said that it was definitively created in a biolab.

He would not answer a question from Senator Bernie Sanders about whether he agreed that vaccines do not cause autism. He also said he did not know if the coronavirus vaccine saved millions of lives.

Kennedy has said that vaccines are linked to autism, and he opposed state and federal restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The causes of autism are unclear, though theories that childhood vaccines cause autism have been widely debunked and are contrary to scientific evidence.

Kennedy, who founded the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense, argued during both hearings that he was not against vaccines.

“News reports and many in the hearing yesterday have claimed that I’m anti-vaccine and anti-industry. Well, I’m neither,” Kennedy said, repeating that his children are vaccinated.

Today’s hearing in front of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions is a courtesy hearing with no vote planned. However, Republican Senators Cassidy, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins sit on the committee, all of whom are seen as potential swing votes against Kennedy.

Supporters of Kennedy wearing “Make America Healthy Again” hats crowded around the committee hearing room today, while some opposing his confirmation wore “Reject RFK Jr” stickers on their shirts.

‘CATASTROPHIC’ IMPACTS

If confirmed, Kennedy would run the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees more than $3 trillion in healthcare spending, including at the Food and Drug Administration and the agency in charge of the Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programs covering nearly half of all Americans.

He said he would follow Trump’s direction on abortion, and would hire for his department those who are against abortion rights.

Kennedy also said gender-affirming care for children has “catastrophic” impacts and that children are not equipped to make judgments about receiving such care. He said he would rescind a Biden-era rule that requires medical providers who receive federal funding to offer gender-affirming care.

Kennedy said farmers should be offered an off-ramp from chemically intensive agriculture, and that illness in farm communities is “undoubtedly” related to the use of pesticides. Some farm and food groups have expressed concern about Kennedy’s positions on pesticides and food additives.

Opposition groups have ramped up their efforts to persuade Republican senators to vote against Kennedy. Caroline Kennedy, another member of the storied American political family, on Tuesday urged senators to vote against her cousin’s nomination, calling him a predator with dangerous views on healthcare.

He would need the support of at least 50 senators, which would allow Vice President JD Vance to cast another tie-breaking vote and confirm his nomination if needed.


Additional reporting by Leah Douglas.


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