Senate Listening to with RFK Jr. Sparks Backlash From Scientists and Well being Consultants

Public Well being Consultants Slam RFK, Jr. after Senate Listening to

By Megha Satyanarayana edited by Sarah Lewin Frasier

On Thursday a combative and acerbic Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., secretary of the U.S. Division of Well being and Human Companies, appeared earlier than the Senate Committee on Finance and fielded indignant questions from a few of the very senators that helped him be a part of President Donald Trump’s cupboard. The senators’ considerations included the firing of the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention’s newly appointed director Susan Monarez and Kennedy’s selections to restrict vaccine improvement and availability.

Kennedy usually interrupted the questioning: He informed Senator Invoice Cassidy of Louisiana, “You’re incorrect,” when Cassidy stated Kennedy was denying individuals COVID vaccines. And Kennedy informed Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, “You’re simply making stuff up,” after she questioned what proof he and the Meals and Drug Administration used to vary COVID vaccine suggestions. Kennedy defended his choice to fireplace Monarez after solely 29 days of service by claiming that she stated “no” when requested if she was “reliable.” In a piece within the Wall Road Journal, Monarez wrote that Kennedy had requested her to log out on “the suggestions of a vaccine advisory panel newly full of individuals who have publicly expressed antivaccine rhetoric.”

The listening to had initially been scheduled for Kennedy to speak concerning the president’s well being agenda, however in mild of a gunman firing on the CDC final month, the FDA’s choice on COVID vaccines and Monarez’s ouster, a number of senators used it to excoriate Kennedy for weakening the American public well being system. Many public officers and health-related organizations have known as for Kennedy’s resignation.

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All through the listening to, public well being consultants, medical professionals and scientists responded on social media. A number of such feedback is beneath.

“Dr. Monarez was informed days earlier than she was fired that she couldn’t resolve vaccine coverage. We spoke on the cellphone and he or she stated ‘I received’t ever abandon you, however I’m not in a position to be concerned in vaccine coverage per HHS. These selections must undergo the chief of employees.’” —Demetre C. Daskalakis, former director, Nationwide Middle on Immunization and Respiratory Illnesses, CDC, writing on X

“Thom Tillis (R) actually lays into RFK [Jr.]. Goes after him on the whole lot from vaccines to the Large Stunning Invoice, gently stating that he is successfully, and repeatedly, lied. Desires a ‘written assertion’ from RFK [Jr.] on his view of Warp Velocity and RNA tech. RFK [Jr.] not getting overwhelming help from GOP.” —Pam Herd, Social Sciences College of Michigan, writing on Bluesky

“Kennedy continues to say that vaccines aren’t adequately examined.

“He’s a liar. They’re essentially the most totally examined intervention of all.” —Elizabeth Jacobs, epidemiologist, Defend Public Well being, and professor emerita, College of Arizona, writing on Bluesky

“Cease considering [Kennedy] will likely be truthful. He received’t. He’s a menace to public well being & scientific progress. He’s demonized innovation for:

“Meals security

“Meals stability

“Farming

“Infectious ailments

“Most cancers

“Genetic issues

“Dental well being

“Public & inhabitants well being

“The surroundings.” —Andrea Love, scientist, writing on Bluesky

“Unbelievable

“‘We’re the sickest nation on the earth. That’s why we now have to fireplace individuals on the CDC. They didn’t do their job’ – RFK Jr

“CDC people have been fired, fired at, and now being blamed for the nation’s well being disaster by a anti-science quack.” —Madhu Pai, public well being and tuberculosis knowledgeable, McGill College, writing on Bluesky

“Confirming a person who’s arguably the world’s most excessive & harmful anti-vaxx activist & conspiracy theorist was an enormous failure…..” —Gavin Yamey, world well being knowledgeable, Duke College, writing on Bluesky

“It’s very clear that RFK Jr. has been mendacity all through his whole senate listening to that occurred earlier at present.” —Zachary Rubin, doctor and science communicator, talking on Instagram

“[Kennedy said], ‘We’re the sickest nation on the earth. That’s why we now have to fireplace individuals on the CDC!’

“Fallacious. We’re not the ‘sickest nation on the earth.’ Not even shut, by any measure.

“He fired individuals at CDC as a result of they might not agree to hold out his plan to finish vaccines in America.” —Angela Rasmussen, infectious illness knowledgeable, College of Saskatchewan, writing on X

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