Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) has called on the Senate to reject Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to the top health position in the U.S., calling out Kennedy’s blatant lies on vaccines that health experts have repeatedly said could endanger lives across the country.
In a statement on his “no” vote for Kennedy’s nomination for Health and Human Services Secretary on Tuesday, Sanders said that Kennedy’s views on vaccines stand diametrically opposed to the expert consensus.
“I cannot in good conscience vote for someone who denies and will dilute our public health protections, sow distrust in science and oversee massive cuts to health care programs for low-income people, nursing home care for seniors and long-term care for people with disabilities,” Sanders said.
The Senate Finance Committee, of which Sanders is a member, voted 14 to 13 to advance Kennedy’s nomination on Tuesday. The vote fell along party lines.
Kennedy has spent many years spreading disinformation about vaccines, and has peddled troubling lies on other health topics, like the effects of fluoride in drinking water.
During a chaotic confirmation hearing last week, Kennedy tried to roll back some of his statements about vaccines, likely in an attempt to ensure his nomination went through.
But when grilled by senators like Sanders, he still declined to reject the idea that vaccines cause autism — a long-debunked claim that has nonetheless caused vast harm, especially to children.
Democrats opposing Kennedy’s nomination have pointed out that Kennedy has made anti-vaccine comments in at least 114 appearances and public speeches in the past four years, according to a recent review by The Washington Post.
“Despite what Mr. Kennedy believes, the overwhelming consensus within the scientific community is clear: Vaccines are safe and effective,” Sanders said. “Over the past 50 years, vaccines have saved the lives of over 150 million people throughout the world and reduced the infant mortality rate by 40 percent. Vaccines have not, as Mr. Kennedy has claimed, ‘poisoned an entire generation of American children.’”
Sanders quoted from numerous letters by health experts opposing his nomination, including a letter signed by nearly 20,000 doctors who have said that Kennedy’s appointment “is a direct threat to the safety of our patients and the public at large.”
“We must reject Mr. Kennedy’s nomination,” Sanders said.
During his hearing, Kennedy also demonstrated a fundamental lack of understanding of Medicaid, a major service within the Department of Health and Human Services, and denied making a number of bigoted, incorrect or alarming statements that he has, in fact, made.
The vote comes as some lawmakers are calling on Senate Democrats to block every one of President Donald Trump’s nominations as he and billionaire Elon Musk conduct a hostile takeover and gutting of the federal government.
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