The testimony of the Senate of RFK Jr. is tormented by its history

But Kennedy’s previous history to discredit vaccines and its connection with the Anti -Vacuna movement was a great conflict point for Democrats and a handful of Republicans. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts suggested on Wednesday that Kennedy could undermine vaccines making changes in the country. Immunization schedule. In response, Kennedy said: “Support vaccines. I support the childhood schedule. “I will do it. All I want is a good science, and that’s.”

Republican senators Lisa Murkowski from Alaska and Susan Collins de Maine de Maine also emphasized the importance of vaccines and asked Kennedy to promise that she would use her position to promote confidence in them. “We can’t go back without our vaccines,” Murkowski said.

A main Republican, Senator Bill Cassidy in Louisiana, said at the audience on Thursday that he was “fighting” with Kennedy’s nomination. “As a doctor who has been involved in immunization programs, I have seen the benefits of vaccines. I know they save lives, ”he said. “His past of undermining vaccines confidence with unfounded or deceitful arguments worries me. Can I trust that is now in the past? Can data and information change your opinion, or will you only seek data that support a predetermined conclusion?

That past was not so long ago. Kennedy’s statements associating autism with vaccines date back years, but as recently as 2023 said in a Interview with Fox News“I think autism comes from vaccines.” Many big studiesHowever, they have not found any connection. In Podcast appearance The same year, Kennedy said: “There is no safe and effective vaccine.”

Kennedy has raised doubts about the safety of COVID-19 vaccines and the HPV shot and questioned the guidelines of the centers for disease control and prevention for when children must be vaccinated. From 2015 to 2023, he presided over the defense of children’s health, an activist organization that has disseminated the erroneous information of the vaccine and presented demands that challenge vaccines.

Kennedy tried to go back many of those controversial comments this week, saying that some of them were taken from context, but repeatedly dodged the question of whether vaccines cause autism when Cassidy and Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent. Instead, Kennedy asked why CDCs have not done more to investigate the causes of autism. “Why don’t we know the answer after 30 years of a constant increase in autism rate? Why don’t we know the answer to that? We should know the answer. “

In fact, researchers think there is not a single cause of autism, but believes that a combination of genetic and environmental factors, such as exposure to pollutants or viral infections. The increase in autism rates is probably due to a greater awareness of neurological development disorder and more evidence in recent years.

For many Republican senators, Kennedy’s previous comments about vaccines did not seem to be a problem. Senator Rand Paul, Republican and Kentucky’s medical eye, chose not ask Kennedy questions on Thursday and, on the other hand, defended himself. “The discussion about vaccines is so simplified and silly that we never really reached real truths,” he said. “We don’t know what autism causes, so we should be more humble in what we say.”

Markwayne Mullin de Oklahoma echoed Paul’s feelings, saying: “I don’t understand why my colleagues suddenly say we can’t question science.” Tommy Tuberville de Alabama said that his son and daughter -in -law have “done his research on vaccines” and that his granddaughter “will not be a puncture.”

It is not clear for its confirmation audiences that Kennedy the American people would obtain as secretary of the HHS, who would erode public confidence in vaccines or the one that supports them openly. And despite their reasonable and bipartisan positions about obesity and chronic diseases, its confirmation could depend on the vaccine issue.

The Senate Finance Committee is expected to vote next week about whether to advance in Kennedy’s nomination to the entire Senate, which will make the final decision on its confirmation. If confirmed, Kennedy would lead a vast agency with a $ 1.7 Billion Budget That includes the CDC, the Food and Medicines Administration, the National Health Institutes and the Medicare and Medicaid service centers.