APPLENEWS - STORY ADD
Top Republican 'struggling' with RFK Jr.'s nomination over Kennedy's vaccine views
Kennedy refused to say vaccines don't cause autism during his hearings.
President Donald Trump has promised he'd let Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "go wild" on health, food and medicine as head of the Department of Health and Human Services.
Kennedy, a Democrat who ran as an independent but ended up supporting Trump in the 2024 presidential campaign, was grilled by senators over his views on vaccines, abortion, Medicaid and more during two days of confirmation hearings.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, the top Republican on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, concluded Thursday's hearing by saying he was "struggling" with the nomination due to Kennedy's vaccine positions. Kennedy notably refused to say vaccines don't cause autism as he faced pointed question from lawmakers.
Key Headlines
Sanders, Kennedy exchange turns contentious
Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, the ranking member of the committee, got another opportunity to question Kennedy as the hearing neared its end.
But the exchange turned contentious. Kennedy, at one point, referred to the senator simply as "Bernie," and the two yelled about political contributions to the pharmaceutical industry. Chairman Bill Cassidy began banging his gavel on the table in a call to order.
Sanders claims Kennedy supports man behind paper falsely linking vaccines to autism
Sen. Bernie Sanders accused Kennedy of praising Andrew Wakefield, the primary author of a now-debunked paper from the U.K. in 1998, which allegedly found that MMR vaccines cause autism.
The paper has since been discredited by health experts and retracted from the journal in which it was published.
In February 2004, The Sunday Times published an investigation, accusing Wakefield of a conflict of interest.
It alleged some of the parents of the children in the paper were suing vaccine manufacturers prior to its publication and Wakefield had received funding to try to find a link between the MMR vaccine and autism, which was not disclosed in the Lancet article. This led to 10 of the 13 authors withdrawing their support.
In 2010, Wakefield lost his medical license after the paper was discredited and an investigation found he had acted "dishonestly and irresponsibly" in conducting his research. More than a dozen high-quality studies have since found no evidence of a link between childhood vaccines and autism.
Key Republican questions RFK on vaccine approvals, Lyme disease
Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine is one key Republican vote to watch throughout Kennedy's nomination.
On Wednesday, she said it was "premature" to decide on Kennedy before the end of the hearings.
During her allotted time for questioning on Thursday, Collins asked Kennedy about his view on certain vaccines and herd immunity, as well as on Lyme disease -- a personal issue for both Collins and Kennedy.
Kennedy assured her he believed the polio vaccine was safe and he would not reduce its availability if confirmed. He also said there's "nobody who will fight harder for a treatment for Lyme disease," which Collins said she appreciated.
Fact-check: Kennedy and the American Samoa measles outbreak
Democratic Sen. Ed Markey discussed Kennedy's trip to American Samoa just before a deadly measles outbreak. Markey said he believed the incident disqualified Kennedy from leading HHS.
Kennedy has said he had nothing to do with the outbreak.
The 2019 measles outbreak led to more than 5,700 cases and 83 deaths. The Ministry of Health cited Kennedy's visit and rhetoric as exacerbating vaccine hesitancy at a crucial moment, according to a publication from The Lancet.
Read more here.