RFK Jr. Testifies Before Congressional Committee

We have not forgotten that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promised Republican Senator (and medical doctor) Bill Cassidy that he would not impose his past anti-vaccine views on the Departnent of Health and Human Services if he were confirmed. He lied. He fired every member of the Department’s vaccine advisory board and replaced them; some of his choices are decidedly anti-vaccine. He has since restricted access to COVID vaccines.

Here are some updates from ABC News:

As Kennedy testifies in front of senators on major vaccine changes at HHS, polls show most Americans support vaccine requirements.

Most U.S. adults — 79% — say parents should be required to have children vaccinated against diseases like measles, mumps and rubella to attend school, according to a June poll from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

That figure includes 72% of all parents, 90% of Democrats and 68% of Republicans surveyed.

Additionally, 81% of parents across all political backgrounds said they believe public schools should require measles and polio vaccines for students, allowing for some health and religious exceptions, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation and Washington Post poll of parents and guardians of children under 18 years old surveyed in July and August.

What’s more, a Reuters/Ipsos poll from August found that 55% of Americans say the country’s public health is going in the wrong track, with 29% saying it’s going in the right direction. 

-ABC News’ Dan Merkle, Oren Oppenheim and Benjamin Siegel

Kennedy claims ‘no cuts to Medicaid’ as millions expected to lose coverage

Kennedy, in an exchange with Democratic Sen. Mark Warner, said there are “no cuts to Medicaid” in the sweeping Trump spending cut and tax bill.

“That is absurd,” Warner responded.

The megabill passed by Republicans in Congress in early July includes $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and Medicare spending. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated the law will result in 10 million Americans losing health insurance over the next decade, with more than 7 million people expected to lose Medicaid coverage.

Warner, Kennedy have heated exchange over COVID deaths

Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia, had a heated exchange with Kennedy over how many Americans died from COVID-19.

“Do you accept the fact that a million Americans died from COVID?” Warner asked.

“I don’t know how many died,” Kennedy replied.

“You’re the Secretary of Health and Human Services,” Warner said. “You don’t have any idea how many Americans died from COVID?”

“I don’t think anybody knows, because there was so much chaos coming out of the CDC,” Kennedy continued.

Data on the CDC’s website, which is publicly available, shows that at least 1,231,440 deaths related to COVID-19 have been reported in the U.S. since 2020.

GOP’s Cassidy says, ‘We’re denying people vaccines’

Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a longtime physician whose vote was critical in Kennedy’s ascension to HHS secretary, read out emails he received from people who say they’ve had difficulty accessing vaccines. Cassidy submitted the emails to the record.

“I would say, effectively, we’re denying people vaccines,” Cassidy said as he ended his questioning of Kennedy.

Kennedy responded, “You’re wrong.”

Democratic senator to RFK Jr.: ‘You’re a charlatan’

Democratic Sen. Maria Cantwell picked up the questioning from Cassidy and continued to scrutinize Kennedy’s stance and actions concerning vaccines. 

The Washington senator brought up a chart showing the number of deaths following the introduction of vaccines since the 20th century.

“You’re a charlatan. That’s what you are. You’re the ones who conflate chronic disease with the need for vaccines,” she said.

“You are perpetrating hoaxes,” Cantwell later added.

Cassidy expresses concerns over ACIP members’ conflicts of interest

Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana, whose vote was crucial in confirming Kennedy, expressed concerns over conflicts of interest among new members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee.

In June, Kennedy removed all 17 sitting members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and replaced them with his own hand-picked members, many of whom have expressed vaccine-skeptic views.
“What I am concerned about is that many of those who you’ve nominated for ACIP have received revenue as serving as expert witnesses for plaintiffs, attorneys, suing vaccine makers,” Cassidy said.

Cassidy continued, “Now, one of my colleagues in another setting alleged that you seem more interested in settlements than science. If we put people who are paying witnesses for vaccine, people suing vaccines, that actually seems like a conflict of interest real quickly. Do you agree with that?”

Kennedy disagreed saying it may be a “bias” but not a conflict of interest.

Bennet, Kennedy spar over vaccines

Democratic Sen. Michael Bennet grilled Kennedy on his firing of all 17 members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel, the Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, and the panel’s upcoming review of childhood vaccine schedule recommendations later this month.

The exchange turned heated as both men raised their voices.

“I’m asking the questions, Mr. Kennedy, on behalf of parents and schools and teachers all over the United States of America who deserve so much better than your leadership,” Bennet yelled. “That’s what this conversation is about.”

“Senator, they deserve the truth, and that’s what we’re going to give them for the first time in the history of that agency,” Kennedy responded.

RFK Jr. claims COVID pandemic was ‘politicized’

Kennedy claimed the COVID-19 pandemic was “politicized” and that Americans were lied to.

He claimed it was untrue that COVID-19 vaccines would prevent transmission and infection.

Studies of the original vaccine found it to be 90% effective against lab-confirmed, symptomatic infection and 100% effective against moderate and severe disease, according to Yale Medicine.

Kennedy says Susan Monarez lied in her WSJ op-ed detailing ouster

Kennedy said former CDC Director Susan Monarez lied in her op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal on Thursday morning, in which she detailed the pressure she faced from Kennedy.

Monarez wrote that in that meeting, she was “told to preapprove the recommendations of a vaccine advisory panel newly filled with people who have publicly expressed antivaccine rhetoric … It is imperative that the panel’s recommendations aren’t rubber-stamped but instead are rigorously and scientifically reviewed before being accepted or rejected.”

“Did you in fact, do what Director Monarez said you did, which is tell her just go along with vaccine recommendations even if she didn’t think such recommendations aligned with scientific evidence?” Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden asked Kennedy.

“No, I did not say that to her, and I never had a private meeting with her,” Kennedy said. 

“So she’s lying today to the American people in the Wall Street Journal?” the senator asked.

“Yes, sir,” Kennedy said.

RFK Jr. says most Americans suffering from chronic disease

Kennedy said that he received latest numbers from the CDC that 76.4% of Americans now have a chronic disease.

“This is stunning … This is a national security issue,” he said. “When my uncle was president, we spent zero on chronic disease. We [have now] spent $1.3 trillion.”

Kennedy claimed this is why peopled needed to be fired at the CDC, saying they “didn’t do their job” to keep Americans healthy.

From Twitter (Republicans Against Trump):

Sen. Bill Cassidy: “Do you agree with me that President Trump deserves a Nobel Prize for Operation Warp Speed?”

RFK Jr: “Absolutely.”

Cassidy: “But you just told Sen. Bennet that the Covid vaccine killed more people than Covid”