Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, a childhood polio survivor, said those seeking to confirm any of President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees should “steer clear” of efforts to discredit the polio vaccine.
“Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven treatments are not only uninformed — they are dangerous,” McConnell said in a statement Friday. “Anyone seeking Senate approval to serve in the incoming administration would do well to avoid the appearance of association with such efforts.”
The 82-year-old lawmaker’s statement was directed at Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Trump’s nominee for health secretary, after reports that one of his advisers filed a petition to revoke approval of the polio vaccine in 2022. Kennedy, who has long promoted the misguided idea that vaccines cause autism, indicated he could face resistance. The soon-to-be GOP-controlled Senate.
“Mr. Kennedy believes that the polio vaccine should be available to the public and should be thoroughly and thoroughly studied,” Kennedy’s infection spokeswoman Katie Miller said in response to questions.
The New York Times reported Friday that a lawyer who helped Kennedy choose a candidate for the health official post has filed a petition to have the government revoke approval of the polio vaccine — which has widely prevented the disease in much of the world — and. Stop distribution of many other vaccines. The Washington Post also confirmed the petition. The AP has not independently confirmed the petition, which was filed in 2022, according to the Times.
Vaccines have been proven safe and effective in laboratory tests and in real-world use on hundreds of millions of people over decades—they are considered among the most effective public health measures in history.
McConnell contracted polio at age two but survived, he said Friday, “thanks to a miraculous combination of modern medicine and a mother’s love.” He praised the “saving power” of the polio vaccine to “the millions who came after me.” Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer also responded to the Times report on Friday. In a post on X, earlier on Twitter, he called it “insulting and dangerous for people in the Trump transition to get rid of the polio vaccine and try to virtually eradicate polio in America and save millions of lives.” He asked Kennedy to clarify his position on this.
Trump nominated Kennedy last month, saying he would work to “protect Americans from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products and foods.” But his nomination was immediately met with alarm from scientists and public health officials, who feared Kennedy’s life-saving public health initiatives, such as vaccinations.
Kennedy has pushed other conspiracy theories about vaccines, such as that Covid-19 may have been “racially targeted” to protect Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people, comments he later said were taken out of context. He has repeatedly brought up doom when discussing vaccines and public health mandates.
Kennedy said he plans to remake the Department of Health and Human Services, an agency with broad reach and a USD 1.3 trillion budget, if he is approved. He has suggested the Food and Drug Administration look into “big pharma,” and his anti-vaccine nonprofit has called on it to stop using Covid-19 vaccines.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, her non-profit group, Children’s Health Defense, petitioned the FDA to halt the use of all Covid vaccines. The group alleges that the FDA is beholden to “big pharma” because it receives much of its budget from industry fees and that some employees who have left the agency have gone to work for drugmakers.
Children’s Health Defense is currently suing several news organizations, including the Associated Press, alleging they violated antitrust laws by taking action to identify misinformation about COVID-19 and the Covid-19 vaccine. Kennedy took a leave of absence from the group when he announced his run for president but is listed as one of its attorneys in the lawsuit.
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