WASHINGTON – Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Wash.) on Tuesday tore into Well being and Human Providers Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for his a long time of lies in regards to the security and effectiveness of vaccines, saying she’s going to blame him each time somebody dies from a vaccine-preventable illness on his watch.
“You’ve got lied to the American individuals,” Schrier, who’s a pediatrician, charged as Kennedy sat silently earlier than a Home committee. “You’ve got lied to folks about vaccines for 20 years.”
“And I additionally need to be clear that I’ll lay all duty for each dying from a vaccine-preventable sickness at your toes,” she stated.
Here’s a clip of their exchange.
Kennedy, who has a long history of peddling harmful misinformation about vaccines, was testifying earlier than the Home panel about his company’s price range request when Schrier started describing what occurs when unvaccinated infants and youngsters get sick with issues like measles, bacterial meningitis or whooping cough.
“Have you ever ever handled measles?” she requested.
Kennedy replied, “No.”
“Properly, I’ve. Let me let you know how depressing it’s,” stated the Democratic congresswoman. “These youngsters have excessive fevers, struggling to breathe and they’re crying. They endure. The good information is there’s a vaccine to stop it.”
Schrier went on, describing infants within the emergency room “so sick,” “floppy” and with excessive fevers as a result of they’ve bacterial meningitis. She recalled treating one child who got here down with whooping cough, who was weeks outdated and had “stopped respiration and turned blue.”
“Let me let you know how scared these dad and mom have been,” she stated to Kennedy. “I’ve handled a bunch of older youngsters with it. They cough so arduous they vomit. They run out of air. They break ribs. For those who don’t catch it earlier than two weeks, antibiotics don’t even work.”
“You already know what‘s nice? There’s a vaccine that forestalls this,” Schrier stated. “In fact, right here’s the factor: Vaccines solely work in the event you really give them. And we all know your report on this.”
Kennedy’s report consists of pushing the debunked claim that vaccines trigger autism. He’s floated weird conspiracy theories about COVID-19 being “ethnically targeted” to spare Jewish and Chinese language individuals. He’s referenced the Holocaust when speaking about vaccines and public well being mandates.
As HHS secretary, he has stated that getting vaccinated is a personal choice as a substitute of citing science-based proof that vaccines are protected, efficient and strongly really useful. He’s referred to as for reducing billions in funding for a program that gives vaccines to youngsters in low-income households, and he directed the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention to no longer recommend COVID vaccine boosters for youngsters and pregnant ladies.
“We consider Sen. Cassidy greater than we belief you on the subject of vaccinations.”
– Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Wash.)
Throughout Tuesday’s listening to, Schrier additionally accused Kennedy of pulling a quick one on Sen. Invoice Cassidy (R-La.), who solely voted to verify Kennedy to his present put up as a result of he stated he bought assurances that the HHS secretary wouldn’t make adjustments to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a panel of medical and public well being specialists that gives suggestions on vaccine steering for numerous ailments.
Kennedy fired all 17 members of that panel earlier this month, saying in a statement that the transfer was about “prioritizing the restoration of public belief above any particular pro- or anti-vaccine agenda” with a plan to exchange the panelists. His actions inevitably imply that, going ahead, HHS’s steering on vaccine security will probably be rooted in misinformation and views from outdoors the scientific neighborhood, one vaccine coverage professional told HuffPost.
“Did you misinform Sen. Cassidy if you informed him you wouldn’t change this panel of specialists?” she requested.
“I by no means made that settlement,” Kennedy replied.
After some backwards and forwards, Schrier stated she merely doesn’t consider him.
“I simply need to let you know that for many of us sitting right here proper now, we consider Sen. Cassidy greater than we belief you on the subject of vaccinations,” she stated.
