Washington D.C. – In the week since Trump health secretary RFK Jr. repeatedly lied to Congress that he’s “never been anti-vaccine”, the consequences of his very real, very dangerous anti-vax agenda continued to mount.
- Politico reports RFK Jr. is deliberately holding up $600 million in Congressionally approved and appropriated funds for international humanitarian group, Gavi that “provides vaccines for 20 diseases, including measles, malaria and polio, to more than 50 low-income countries across the globe” – obstruction that is projected to leave “tens of thousands” of people dead.
- Studies published this week in JAMA Pediatrics found that RFK Jr. CDC’s “decision to drop the long-standing recommendation that newborns receive a hepatitis B vaccine within 24 hours of birth will likely lead to hundreds of additional infections among children, along with more cases of liver cancer, deaths and millions in added health care costs.” While a federal judge has put a temporary pause on the guidance, Kennedy is actively working to skirt the ruling to make it easier to jam through these types of unfounded anti-vax policies.
- STAT reports RFK Jr. blew off a promise he made during Congressional hearings to “share a controversial vaccine research contract by last Friday”. Kennedy is suspiciously withholding “information on David Geier, a longtime vaccine critic who was hired to review vaccine data.”
“RFK Jr., the guy who maliciously claimed no vaccine is safe and founded a smear group dedicated to driving down vaccination rates, feigned offense when lawmakers pointed out his well-documented anti-vax rhetoric and policies,” said Kayla Hancock, Director of Protect Our Care’s Public Health Project. “The minute Kennedy left the Congressional hot seat, it was right back to anti-vax business as usual – from obstructing $600 million in life-saving vaccine aid to poor nations, to stonewalling lawmakers on his secret autism research despite the rigorously debunked claims about vaccines, to scheming to skirt a federal court ruling against his Hepatitis B vaccine rollback that leaves more kids needlessly inflicted with liver cancer. Trump’s health secretary can lie all he wants to lawmakers’ faces, but it won’t cover up the deadly and costly consequences of the administration’s anti-vax agenda that worsen by the day.”
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