Washington (AP) – Robert F. Kennedy Jr.s’s lengthy recording, to doubt the security of vaccinations in childhood, had skepticism.
In an answer, Kennedy refused to reject a long -discredited theory that vaccines, despite years of studies and research work that do not do this, cause autism.
His views of vaccines could endanger his reputation with only a few Republicans and certainly did not facilitate him to win the voices among the Democrats in order to become Minister of Health. If all Democrats refuse Kennedy’s nomination, he can only afford to lose three Republican voices.
A lot of attention was paid to the questions of Senator Bill Cassidy, the Republican Chairman of the Health Committee, who is also a doctor. Cassidy, who will be re -elected next year, expressed concern about the views of Kennedy’s vaccines and found that the broad popularity of the candidate had given him a forceful platform on this topic.
“Whether it is justified or not, I have voters who some of them attribute to their decision not to vaccinate their child,” Cassidy told the candidate.
He shared Kennedy with a personal story about an 18-year-old woman whose liver failed due to hepatitis infection.
“It was the worst day of my medical career because I thought that 50 dollars could have prevented all of this,” said Cassidy.
He then asked Kennedy to promise as a health secretary that he would clearly assure parents that hepatitis does not cause B and measles vaccines.
Kennedy wouldn’t. Instead, he avoided answering directly and said: “If the data is there, I will absolutely do it.”
Then, in a infrequent show of the entire similarity of similarity, Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent Vermont, followed Cassidy’s questions.
Again, Kennedy refused to give a final answer.
Sometimes the survey was very personal. Senator Maggie Hassan, Democrat of New Hampshire, shared her fear as a mother, who has asked herself for decades what caused her 36-year-old son’s cerebral paralysis. She was worried about whether vaccines had contributed to the condition of her son after a notorious study had wrongly found a connection between autism and vaccines years ago. Since then, this study has been completely discredited.
Hassan said Kennedy’s suggestions that vaccines could cause autism, injured families.
“He shines again and throws the view of science so that we cannot continue and find out what the cause of autism is, and treat these children and help these families,” she said and added later: “If they continue to be doubts about it Setled Science, it makes it impossible for us to go forward. ”
Apart from Cassidy, the Republicans remained affable in the health committee. The Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville from Alabama, who said his two sons wanted to vote for Kennedy in the presidential elections, told the hearing that the granddaughter, which is due in the coming weeks goes.
Two more showed doubts about the security of vaccines, although both said they were vaccinated by their own children.
Sen. Markwayne Mulllin, a Republican from Oklahoma, blamed his colleagues because he had checked Kennedy’s skeptical attitude towards vaccinations.
“We cannot question science?” Asked Mullin.
In his opening speeches, Kennedy again rejected the “Anti-Accy” label and instead said he was “pro-safe”. He repeated many of the same lines that he offered to the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday.
The democratic Senator Tim Kaine from Virginia, where the Gardasil vaccine is carried out against cervical cancer, questioned the financial disclosure of Kennedy in which he indicates that in cases that are mentioned in a lawsuit against this vaccine to the law firm, he still plan to charge fees. Last year Kennedy turned 850,000 US dollars out of the deal.
“How can people who have confidence in the subject of vaccine programs to trust that they are independent and scientific if they receive significant means if lawsuits are successful against vaccine manufacturers?” Asked Kaine.
Kennedy said Kaine that he gave away his rights in that case.
Democrats and Republicans repeatedly urge the candidate for his plans for abortions, and Senator Tim Scott from South Carolina asked whether he would appoint “Pro -Life” -TtuTien, and several democrats asked him how he would deal with the abortion drug mifistics.
The bidges administration defended lawsuits against the consumption of the drug, including its availability via telemedicine. Kennedy said that no decision had yet been made about how to deal with the controversial medicine that the Food and Drug Administration had safely ended more than two decades to end pregnancies safely.
“With Mifepristone, President Trump has not selected politics and I will implement his policy,” Kennedy told the committee.
Kennedy would like to lead the 1.7 -brillion agency in the amount of 1.7 trillion dollars that monitors health insurance -Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act marketplace -for about half of the country, approved and then vaccines for Deadly diseases recommend and carries out safety inspections of food and hospitals.
During a three -hour hearing on Wednesday in front of the financial committee, which ultimately decides whether to send Kennedy’s nomination to coordinate the Senate, Kennedy incorrectly stated about Medicare and Medicaid. However, the Republicans mainly expressed support for his suggestions to transfer healthier food for Americans and to research the root of chronic diseases such as obesity.
