Washington D.C. – Today, the Senate HELP Committee will consider the nominations of Dr. Erica Schwartz to be the fourth head of the troubled Trump CDC this term; and Sean Kaufman for Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. Ahead of the hearing, Protect Our Care urged Senators to drill down on Kaufman’s record of fringe anti-vax views that are disqualifying for someone who would be overseeing the nation’s emergency supply of vaccines; and Dr. Schwartz’s plan for dealing with certain resistance from HHS Secretary RFK Jr. against restoring the CDC’s mission of protecting all Americans from preventable disease.
AT ISSUE: Former CDC chief medical officer Dr. Debra Houry recently gave a blunt assessment of RFK Jr.’s science-trampling tenure: “I think the secretary has caused a lot of irreparable harm.” Indeed, Kennedy’s unjustified war on vaccines alone will take years to undo the damage to public trust and health. RFK Jr. has abused his power to sow fear in vaccine safety without proof, including attacking the CDC child vaccine schedule, which further sabotaged vaccination rates and gave way for preventable disease like measles to roar back after decades of dormancy. If Dr. Schwarz intends to follow the science and promote vaccine safety, efficacy and availability, her prospective boss RFK Jr. has already refused to commit to Congress that he will not interfere with her vaccine guidance. The last Senate-approved Trump CDC director was forced out in under a month because she refused RFK Jr.’s demands to “pre-approve vaccine recommendations for the public and fire career scientists.” How will this time be any different?
“Trump’s toxic anti-vax health secretary has already stacked the deck against the next CDC director by threatening to interfere with future vaccine guidance and mass firing career scientists,” said Brad Woodhouse, president of Protect Our Care. “Donald Trump and RFK Jr. remain 100% committed to their policies of anti-vax misinformation and obstruction that have made America sicker and health care more expensive. They’ve set public health back by decades and they’re proud of it, which puts Dr. Schwartz in a tough spot to begin turning the page on CDC chaos and brain drain, plummeting vaccination rates, and resurgence of preventable diseases like measles. So long as RFK Jr. is health secretary, it will be near impossible for any CDC director, no matter how qualified, to get the Titanic back on course. With the health of so many kids on the line, we’re all ears on the details of how Dr. Schwartz intends to manage her overbearing manager and his science-denying agenda.”
RELATED FROM PROTECT OUR CARE:
- Report: Trump Keeps Pushing RFK Jr. On Anti-Vax Fishing Expedition Over Debunked Autism Link
- RFK Jr. Wants to Get His Grubby Hands On Americans’ Private Medical Records for an Anti-Vax Fishing Expedition
- New RFK Jr. Report Details Many Reasons Why Trump’s Health Secretary Should Resign
- ‘Inside the push to keep RFK Jr.’s vaccine agenda alive’
- REPORT: Up in Smoke: Trump and RFK Jr. Are Selling Out Public Health to Big Tobacco While Trump Cashes In
- ‘Irreparable Harm’ Under RFK Jr.: Measles Cases Set to Break Record By Summer’s End
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