Washington D.C. – During today’s Senate HELP Committee hearing, CDC director nominee Dr. Erica Schwartz repeatedly refused to address what she would do in situations that have already happened under RFK Jr.s’s leadership at HHS, inducing orders to shutter flu vaccine awareness and anti-smoking public service campaigns, cut off funding for mRNA research, and secure pre-approval on any future CDC vaccine guidance from RFK Jr. and unqualified political appointees. Meanwhile, Sean Kaufman, nominee for assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response who would oversee the nation’s emergency vaccine supply, struggled to spin his public writings that falsely and irresponsibly linked the Hepatitis B shot to autism.
“There’s nothing hypothetical about the interference Dr. Schwartz will face from Secretary Kennedy on CDC vaccine guidance. Just ask the last Senate approved CDC director that was kicked to the curb for not bowing to RFK Jr.’s anti-vax meddling,” said Brad Woohouse, president of Protect Our Care. “It’s not a question of if it will happen again, but when. Yet Dr. Schwartz clearly has no plan for when RFK Jr. tells her to break the promise she made today to always follow the science, and instead chase after conspiracy theories that sow more unfounded fear in vaccines. Sooner or later, Dr. Schwartz will face a choice between protecting public health or following dangerous orders from RFK Jr, and for her to deny that reality raises serious questions about her priorities when push comes to shove.
“No one is buying Sean Kaufman’s ‘confirmation room conversion’ on vaccines. Kaufman wrote what he wrote deceptively impugning the safety of the Hepatitis B shot that saves thousands of kids’ lives every year,” added Woodhouse. “The Trump administration is overrun with science deniers as it is, and Americans don’t need another textbook anti-vaxxer picking and choosing which vaccines the nation should have in bulk ahead of the next health crisis. If Senator Cassidy truly regrets his previous confirmation choices that undermined public health, he’d only add more to the list if he rubber-stamps this flawed nominee.”
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