Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell issued a stark warning on Friday Robert F Kennedythat of newly elected President Donald Trump choosing to lead the Health and Human Services Department, after The New York Times reported that one of Kennedy’s top advisers had filed petitions seeking approval of a polio vaccine and a number of other recordings.
“Anyone seeking Senate approval to serve in the next administration would do well to avoid even the appearance of association with such efforts,” McConnell said in a statement.
McConnell, a polio survivor, denounced efforts “to undermine public confidence in proven treatments” such as the polio vaccine.
“The polio vaccine saved millions of lives and promised to eradicate a terrible disease. Attempts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not only uninformed – they are dangerous,” McConnell said.
McConnell credited the “miraculous combination of modern medicine and a mother’s love” with saving him from paralysis when he contracted the disease at age two, and he praised the “miracle” of “the saving power of the polio vaccine” the millions of people. of the children who came after him.
The Times article focused in large part on attorney Aaron Siri’s work for the nonprofit Informed Consent Action Network, or ICAN, which in 2022 petitioned the Food and Drug Administration “demanding that the FDA suspend or withdraw approval” of Sanofi Pasteur’s inactivated polio vaccine. , called IPOL.
Siri acted as an adviser to the transition team for Kennedy, who would do the same if confirmed by the Senate oversee the FDA and the country’s other public health authorities.
Siri called the Times article a “hit piece” that did not address the substance of the “legitimate” concern at the heart of the petition he filed with ICAN.
“ICAN’s petition, filed in 2022, makes the reasonable request that the FDA, as required by federal law, require a proper clinical trial for IPOL prior to licensure,” Siri posted on X.
The Times report on Siri’s work sparked a new round of backlash against Kennedy Democratswho have been criticizing Trump for months because of his ties to Kennedy.
As HHS secretary, Kennedy would have done that important direct authority as the nation’s health secretary over how vaccines are studied, approved and recommended in the U.S., he and his FDA commissioner would also oversee how government lawyers respond to many of Siri’s legal battles against the agency debated about vaccines.
Kennedy himself has said he would not ban it vaccines and has tried to move away from the “anti-vaccine” label, instead calling for further research into the shots. He recently resigned as chairman of Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit that watchdog groups have identified for years as spreading misinformation about vaccine fears.
President-elect Donald Trump has said he may be open to eliminating certain vaccines “if I think it’s dangerous,” vowing to listen to Kennedy.
“We’re going to have a big discussion. The autism rate is at a level that no one ever thought possible. If you look at the things that are happening, there is something that is causing this,” Trump said in an interview with Time Magazine published this week. , when asked if he would agree to a proposal from Kennedy to end childhood vaccination programs.
Extensive medical research has conclusively shown that vaccines do not cause autism.
Siri’s petition for ICAN has not made much progress with the FDA since it was filed in 2022. It’s one of several legal efforts Siri has filed for groups against various shots, including a 2020 petition over hepatitis B vaccines.
In a 2023 letter in response to the polio petition, the agency’s top vaccine official said: Dr. Peter Markswrote that the FDA “is unable to reach a decision on your petition because it raises issues requiring further review and analysis by agency officials.”
Siri’s petition takes aim at IPOL, the only “single antigen” polio vaccine currently recommended for use in the US. The vaccine was approved in the 1990s.
Many children who receive polio vaccinations often do not receive IPOL, but rather one of several combination vaccines that combine a harmless version of the poliovirus with other recommended antigens for various vaccine-preventable diseases.
The CDC says IPOL is “primarily used as a travel vaccine for adults.” The agency says the “body of scientific evidence overwhelmingly supports the safety of polio vaccines.”
Siri has hinted that there are plans for more petitions to the FDA after Kennedy takes charge at HHS.
“It will help if there are outsiders, from outside, who attack. For example, the FDA acts on the basis of petitions. If you want to license a product, you must file a petition. Normally, if you want a product to be withdrawn or reevaluated, you have to petition them,” Siri told Del Bigtree, ICAN founder and former Kennedy campaign spokesman, on his podcast last month.
“Someone from outside needs to petition,” Siri added.
Nikole Killion contributed to this report.
