Emma Court reports at MarketWatch about Gottlieb's
confirmation hearing before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee.
Food and Drug Administration commissioner nominee Scott Gottlieb said Wednesday at his Senate confirmation hearing that there “is no causal link between vaccination and autism.”
As a doctor, Gottlieb said he sympathized with parents. But this “has been one of the most exhaustively studied questions in history,” he said, and the answer was clear.
If confirmed, Gottlieb — a conservative health policy expert, venture-capital firm partner and former FDA deputy commissioner — would be in charge of the agency that regulates vaccines, approving them, regulating how they are manufactured and following reports of side effects once they are on the market.
Robert King reports at The Washington Examiner:
Dr. Scott Gottlieb was asked by Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., during his confirmation hearing about President Trump's flirting with creating a commission on vaccine safety. Vaccine skeptic Robert Kennedy Jr. said after the president was elected that Trump asked him to head the commission, but it was scuttled after a public outcry.
"There is no causal link between vaccination and autism," said Gottlieb, a physician and agency veteran. "At some point we have to accept no for the answer."
...
"I have a history of not being shy," he said, referring to several articles and opinion pieces he has written over the years. "I will give people my direct advice and science-based judgment."
