Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) engaged in a verbal donnybrook during Kennedy’s confirmation hearing for Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary.
Throughout the proceedings, Kennedy faced a barrage of questions from Democratic lawmakers over his previous statements against vaccines and other issues.
Wyden, in particular, attempted to take Kennedy to task for his skepticism about vaccines. He brought up the measles vaccine, asking whether Kennedy believed the disease was deadly. The nominee responded, saying he is not anti-vaccine.
The senator brought up comments Kennedy made on Lex Friedman’s podcast when he claimed, “There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective.”
Wyden asked: “All of these things cannot be true. So are you lying to Congress today when you say you are pro-vaccine, or did you lie on all those podcasts? We have all of this on tape, by the way.”
Kennedy responded, appearing to call out the senator for misrepresenting his statements, saying his characterization has “been repeatedly debunked” and that this was “a fragment of this statement.”
He asked me, Are there vaccines that are safe and effective? I said to him, ‘Some of the live virus vaccines are.’ I said, ‘There are no vaccines that are safe and effective.’ I was going to continue, ‘for every person.’ Every medicine has people who are sensitive to them, including vaccines. He interrupted me at that point. I've corrected it many times, including on national TV.
Kennedy concluded by telling Wyden, “Bringing this up right now is dishonest.”
ICYMI: Watch Sen. @RonWyden and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s full exchange as they spar over Kennedy's views on vaccines. pic.twitter.com/13gN3iBvdp
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The nominee further explained that he supports the measles and polio vaccines. “I will do nothing as HHS Secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking anything,” Kennedy said.
Wyden’s line of questioning was the most aggressive of his colleagues. The senator went so far as to blame Kennedy for measles deaths in Samoa because some individuals did not take the vaccine.
Kennedy shot that accusation down in a lengthy response, explaining that vaccination rates in Samoa were “already below any previous level” before his visit.”
In Samoa in 2017 or 2015, there were two kids who died following the MMR vaccine. And the vaccination rates in Samoa dropped precipitously from about 63 percent to the mid-30s. So they've never been very high. And in 2018, two more kids died following the MMR vaccine, and the government of Samoa banned the MMR vaccine. I arrived a year later when vaccination rates were already below any previous level...I went there to introduce a medical informatics system. I would digitalize records in Samoa and make health delivery much more efficient.
Kennedy concluded: “I never gave any public statement about vaccines. You cannot find a single Samoan who will say, ‘I didn't get a vaccine because of Bobby Kennedy.’ I went in June of 2019. The measles outbreak started in August.”
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