In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread. Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.
A number of posts discussed Trump's support for the discredited notion.
Another leading anti-vaxxer is presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. He has repeatedly compared vaccine mandates to the Holocaust. Rolling Stone and Salon retracted an RFK article linking vaccines to autism. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.
He is now Trump's nominee to head HHS. Now that he has the support of Senator Bill Cassidy, he is likely to win confirmation.
He will have even less influence after Kennedy is installed at the health department, said Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania.
“While I appreciate what Cassidy is trying to accomplish, his capacity to act once the confirmation goes through is limited,” Jamieson said. “Do I expect he will do everything he can? Yes. Do I think it’s going to be productive with Robert Kennedy given everything we know about him with respect to vaccination? No.”
Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Assn., was also pessimistic about Cassidy’s prospects for making sure Kennedy upholds his side of the bargain. He recalled that Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) said she had received assurances from Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh that they wouldn’t overturn Roe vs. Wade if they were elevated to the Supreme Court.
“You see how that worked out,” Benjamin said.
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Should Kennedy or anyone else at the Department of Health and Human Services take steps that undermine support for vaccines, Cassidy could flex his authority as the HELP Committee chairman and make good on his threat to call an oversight hearing.
Kennedy and other Trumpists won't care. In any oversight hearing, pro-Trump senators will just parrot the party line.
