Photograph: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Name, Inc by way of Getty Photos
The Senate affirmation hearings for famous conspiracy theorist and dead-animal fanatic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have lastly drawn to a detailed. Over the course of two grueling days, the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Well being, Training, and Labor Committee relentlessly grilled Kennedy concerning his stance on varied well being points whereas a motley crew of wellness influencers, baseball-cap-wearing “MAHA Mothers,” and his flawlessly Botoxed spouse, Cheryl Hines, watched from the gallery.
There have been a handful of emotional moments, together with a tearful private story from Senator Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, in addition to various egregious blunders on Kennedy’s half, from his obvious conflation of Medicaid with Medicare (packages he’d oversee if confirmed) to the admission that, yeah, he “most likely” did say that he thinks Lyme illness is a army bioweapon. There was additionally, as to be anticipated from the Republicans throughout Trump nominee hearings, a good quantity of sucking up. “you look nice in your age,” Senator Markwayne Mullin gushed earlier than ranting about how he believes vaccines could trigger autism.
Above all else, the hearings supplied a preview of what the American health-care system would possibly appear to be if he’s confirmed as HHS head. Beneath, a information to the grim imaginative and prescient for Making America Wholesome Once more that Kennedy spelled out in his solutions to the Senate committees.
Kennedy has famously vacillated on abortion, insisting for years that he was pro-choice earlier than flip-flopping final yr throughout his presidential marketing campaign. Within the hearings, he said repeatedly that he considers each abortion a “tragedy.”
“I agree with [Trump] that we can’t be an ethical nation if now we have 1.2 million abortions a yr,” he stated. “I agree with him that the states ought to management abortion.”
Key to Kennedy’s abortion agenda is his stance on mifepristone, a drugs that enables girls to terminate pregnancies within the privateness of their very own properties, making it the goal of anti-choice activists. Although mifepristone has repeatedly been confirmed safer and more practical than penicillin or Tylenol, Kennedy intends to research any potential “points” attributable to the treatment. “President Trump has made it clear to me one of many issues he has not taken a place but on is mifepristone, however he desires me to take a look at issues of safety,” he stated. “I’ll ask NIH and FDA to do this.”
Tellingly, Kennedy dodged particular questions on whether or not or not he supposed to ban or prohibit entry to mifepristone. “President Trump has not chosen a coverage. And I’ll implement his coverage,” he responded to Senator Tammy Baldwin’s pointed questions on whether or not he would, as head of HHS, proceed to permit girls to entry the treatment.
Entry to gender-affirming care, notably for minors, has lengthy been a political lightning rod. Senator Josh Hawley interrogated Kennedy about what, exactly, his stance on this concern was, asking whether or not he would rescind a Biden administration coverage he misleadingly stated requires “each pediatrician within the U.S.” to carry out surgical procedures on minors. Although the Biden administration petitioned the Supreme Court docket in opposition to bans on gender-affirming look after minors, there isn’t any rule that “each pediatrician within the U.S.” should carry out such surgical procedures on minors, and the overwhelming majority of trans children don’t endure any surgical intervention as minors in any respect.
Kennedy enthusiastically responded that he would rescind such a coverage. “By the way in which, that rule is anti science. Probably the most thorough evaluation on gender-affirming care stories actually catastrophic impacts on youngsters. That’s science,” he inaccurately said. He in contrast minors receiving gender-affirming care — which, once more, very not often consists of surgical intervention — to letting youngsters “drink or drive an vehicle as a result of they’ve unhealthy judgment. They’re flooded with hormones. Their brains are nonetheless in formation.”
Kennedy additionally stated that whereas “individuals who do have gender variations needs to be revered and beloved, typically love means saying ‘no’ to individuals.” He added that the American public also needs to be open to the opinions of medical professionals who view gender-affirming care as an “atrocity.” “They should be listened to, too. We have to embrace range and never drive individuals to do issues in opposition to their conscience,” he stated.
Kennedy has beforehand said his opposition to GLP-1 medicine like Wegovy and Ozempic, telling Fox Information’s Greg Gutfeld that Ozempic’s producer Novo Nordisk was “relying on promoting it to People as a result of we’re so silly and so hooked on medicine.” He took a softer tack when Senator Andrew Kim requested if he supported GLP-1 drugs, saying they’re “miracle medicine” that needs to be prescribed to individuals with morbid weight problems and diabetes.
Nevertheless, Kennedy added, “I don’t assume they need to be the primary entrance line intervention for 6-year-old children, for whom they’re at the moment — that’s the usual of apply now.” That is patently false: Not one of the GLP-1 drugs are at the moment permitted to be used in the USA for teenagers 12 or youthful. He additionally added that he didn’t consider medicine like Ozempic needs to be prescribed with out “prescriptions for train,” as a result of “in any other case they eat away at muscle and are counterproductive.” (It’s commonplace apply for physicians to suggest train and a nutritious diet alongside drugs like Ozempic.)
SSRIs, or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, have been available on the market for many years and are at the moment prescribed to tens of millions of People. Together with different interventions, similar to speak remedy and train, they’re thought-about to be protected and efficient for treating despair and nervousness. However Kennedy used a query from Senator Tina Smith as a chance to advertise conspiracy theories about SSRIs being linked to high school shootings, telling her that there’s “no science” to conclude antidepressants don’t trigger violence — a blatant falsehood that has been debunked by quite a few research. He later alluded to this principle once more, telling Kim in response to a query about gun violence that he believes “we have to examine all of the causes of mass shootings. All of the causes.”
Kennedy additionally took purpose at medicine like Adderall, telling Senator Tommy Tuberville that “there’s clearly a significant downside with overprescription with our complete inhabitants.” Kennedy cited a statistic saying that prescribed drugs like Adderall are the third-leading reason behind dying in the USA — an incredibly disingenuous declare contemplating many of those fatalities are attributable to medicine like opioids and benzodiazepines, not generally prescribed drugs like antidepressants or stimulants like Adderall.
Many of the senators’ questions centered on Kennedy’s place on vaccines, and with good cause. Kennedy is likely one of the most distinguished anti-vaccine voices on the planet, has penned a number of books with reference to vaccine security, questioned whether or not childhood vaccines trigger autism, and petitioned the USA authorities to revoke emergency entry to the COVID vaccine on the peak of the pandemic.
All through the hearings, Kennedy repeatedly said that he’s “pro-vaccine” and that he vaccinated his personal youngsters in opposition to childhood illnesses. But when requested about particular vital feedback he had made previously, he repeatedly doubled down or feigned ignorance. When requested by Senator Bernie Sanders if the COVID vaccine saved tens of millions of lives, Kennedy stated he didn’t know as “we don’t have a great surveillance system” to trace its results. And when grilled by Senator Raphael Warnock about remarks he had made evaluating the CDC’s promotion of vaccines to the Catholic Church masking up its pedophilia scandal, Kennedy first denied making such an announcement, then backtracked: “There may be nothing I’m going to do to hurt the CDC. I wish to be sure that our science is gold-standard science.”
Kennedy did supply a couple of clear solutions to pointed questions concerning whether or not he would ban or curtail entry to particular vaccines. When Senator Patty Murray requested if he would suggest mother and father vaccinate their youngsters in opposition to measles, he responded that he would; when Senator Invoice Cassidy requested if he would promise to instruct the FDA to not “deprioritize or delay evaluation of latest vaccines or historic vaccine requirements,” Kennedy additionally replied within the affirmative.
But when requested repeatedly about maybe probably the most damning second of his profession — his 2019 go to to Samoa after the federal government banned the MMR vaccine, resulting in a measles outbreak that killed 83 individuals — Kennedy refused to imagine any duty and denied that the illness itself might be lethal.
“I went there to make well being care way more environment friendly. I by no means gave a public assertion about vaccines,” Kennedy claimed. That is false: As Senator Ed Markey identified, the journey was organized by a neighborhood anti-vaccine activist, and he met with the Samoan officers whereas there to debate vaccinations. “You’ll not discover a single Samoan who stated, ‘I didn’t get a vaccine due to Bobby Kennedy,’” he added.
Kennedy’s lack of consistency concerning his views on vaccines prompted outrage amongst some senators, notably Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, who ferociously rebutted her Republican colleagues’ accusations of partisanship and failing to “query” science by invoking her personal expertise because the guardian of a 36-year-old with extreme cerebral palsy.
“Like each mom, I fearful about whether or not in truth the vaccine had carried out one thing to my son,” Hassan stated by means of tears, citing a now-retracted 1999 examine that claimed that MMR vaccines may cause autism. “However typically science is improper. We make progress. We construct on the work. We turn out to be extra profitable.” Directing her feedback to Kennedy, Hassan stated, “Once you proceed to sow doubt about settled science, it makes it not possible for us to maneuver ahead. So that’s what the issue is right here. It’s the rehashing and relitigation that we are able to’t transfer ahead and it retains us in place.”
This was, above all else, the takeaway from the affirmation hearings: Appointing Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as the very best authority on public well being in the USA would be sure that science wouldn’t transfer ahead. The truth is, it might virtually actually assure that everybody, from girls looking for reproductive well being care to these scuffling with despair and nervousness to gender-nonconforming youth to susceptible newborns, would transfer no less than a couple of steps again — and the nation, as a complete, would turn out to be rather less wholesome.
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