But Kennedy’s previous record of discredit of vaccines and its connection to the anti-Vaccine movement was an important point for Democrats and a handful of Republicans. Massachusetts Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren on Wednesday suggested that Kennedy could undermine vaccines by making changes to the country’s vaccination schedule. In response, Kennedy said: ‘I support vaccines. I support the children’s schedule. “I’ll do it. The only thing I want is good science, and that’s it. “
Republican Senatore Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine on Thursday also emphasized the importance of vaccines and asked Kennedy to promise that he would use his position to promote confidence in them. “We can’t deteriorate without our vaccines,” Murkowski said.
A top Republican, Senator Bill Cassidy from Louisiana, said in Thursday’s hearing that he was struggling with the nomination of Kennedy. ‘As a doctor involved in immunization programs, I saw the benefits of vaccinations. I know that they save lives, ”he said. ‘Your past of undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments is about me. Can I trust that it is in the past now? Can data and information change your opinion, or will you only look for data that supports a predetermined conclusion? “
The past was not that long ago. Kennedy’s claims to associate autism with vaccines go back years ago, but as recently as 2023 he said in an interview with Fox News: “I do believe that autism comes from vaccines.” However, many large studies found no connection. In a podcast look at the same year, Kennedy said: “There is no vaccine that is safe and effective.”
Kennedy has previously raised doubts about the safety of the Covid-19 vaccines and HPV shot and the Centers for Disease Control and questioned the guidelines of the prevention when children need to be vaccinated. From 2015 to 2023 he chaired Children’s Health Defense, an activist organization that spread wrong information about vaccine and filed lawsuits that challenge vaccines.
Kennedy tried this week to return many of the controversial remarks, saying that some of them were taken out of context, but he repeatedly evaded the question or vaccines caused autism when he by Cassidy and Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent of Vermont , roasted. Instead, Kennedy asked why the CDC no longer did to investigate the causes of autism. “Why don’t we know the answer after 30 years of a steady rise in the autism speed? Why don’t we know the answer to that? We need to know the answer. “
In fact, researchers think that there is no single cause of autism, but believe that a combination of genetic factors and environments, such as exposure to pollutants or viral infections, plays. The increase in autism figures is probably due to a greater awareness of the neuro development disorder and more testing over the past year.
For many Republican senators, Kennedy’s previous remarks about vaccines did not look a problem. Senator Rand Paul, a Republican and ophthalmologist at Kentucky, chose to ask Kennedy on Thursday and came to his defense instead. “The discussion on vaccines is so oversimplified and muted that we never really come to real truths,” he said. “We don’t know what causes autism, so we have to be humble in what we say.”
Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma reflects Paul’s feelings and says, “I don’t understand why my colleagues suddenly say that we can’t question science.” Tommy Tuberville of Alabama said that his son and daughter -in -law “did their research on vaccines” and that his granddaughter would “not be a coil.”
This is not clear from his confirmation hearings that the American people Kennedy would get as HHS secretary – the one who would erode public confidence in vaccines or the one who openly supports them. And despite its reasonable, two -party positions on obesity and chronic diseases, his vaccine question affirmation can hang.
The Senate Finance Committee is expected to vote next week on whether the nomination of Kennedy is going to the full Senate, which will make the final decision on its confirmation. If confirmed, Kennedy will lead a major agency with a $ 1.7 trillion budget that includes the CDC, Food and Drug Administration, National Institutes of Health and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services.