Price Hearing, Continued

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in presidential campaigns.   In this campaign, a number of posts discussed Trump's support for the discredited notion that vaccines cause autism.  He also has a bad record on disability issues more generally.

At STAT, Dylan Scott reports on a Senate Finance Committee exchange between Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and HHS nominee Tom Price:

Do vaccines cause autism?” Menendez asked Price during Tuesday’s hearing, the first time the issue had been raised with the HHS nominee during his confirmation.

“I think the science in that instance is that they don’t,” Price said. He went on: “But there are individuals in our country who are very —”

Menendez cut him off.

“I’m not asking about individuals,” he said. “I’m asking about science.”

Was Price trying to add something that would reassure antivaccine activists?

At The Huffington Post, Arthur Delaney reports:

In light of the president’s fringe beliefs, last week Every Child By Two and dozens of other groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, asked senators to get Price to commit to vaccines.

Later in the hearing, Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked whether Price, as a physician, believed parents should get their kids vaccinated according to the schedule set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is part of the health department. Price didn’t exactly say that they should.

“I think that the science and healthcare has identified a very important aspect of public health, and that is the role of vaccinations,” he said.