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By Martha McHardy
US News Reporter
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As Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gears up to be Health and Human Services Secretary, his position on the polio vaccine is under scrutiny.
What's New
On Monday, Kennedy told reporters on Capitol Hill he was "all for" the polio vaccine.
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His remarks came after backlash stemming from a New York Times report earlier this week, which revealed that in 2022, a lawyer associated with Kennedy submitted a petition to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, arguing for the revocation of the polio vaccine's approval, claiming the agency had not conducted adequate safety studies.
Following the report, Senator Mitch McConnell drew on his own experience with polio to express his concerns about Kennedy's nomination.
"The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives and held out the promise of eradicating a terrible disease," McConnell said. "Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed — they're dangerous. Anyone seeking the Senate's consent to serve in the incoming administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts."
McConnell contracted the disease as a child in 1944, 11 years before the licensing of the world's first polio vaccine.
Outside of his brief comment this week, Kennedy Jr. has not explicitly stated whether he backs revoking the mandate for the polio vaccine.
Newsweek has contacted Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for comment via email.
Why It Matters
Kennedy Jr. has long been a sceptic of vaccines, repeatedly claiming that childhood vaccines cause autism, a theory debunked by many scientific studies. "I do believe that autism does come from vaccines," he said last summer in an interview with Fox News host Jesse Watters, arguing that thimerosal, a preservative safely used in vaccines, is linked to autism.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC): "Many studies have looked at whether there is a relationship between vaccines and ASD [autism spectrum disorder]. To date, the studies continue to show that vaccines are not associated with ASD."
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Owing to his past remarks, concerns have been raised about Kennedy's nomination as Health Secretary.
Donald Trump previously indicated that inoculations could be banned under his administration, saying that he would "make a decision" about potentially banning immunizations based on Kennedy's recommendations.
What To Know
While Kennedy has said he will not "take vaccines away from anybody," Trump's decision to nominate him means the President-elect has been forced to downplay concerns that his administration could revoke the mandates for certain vaccines.
"You're not going to lose the polio vaccine. It's not going to happen," Trump told reporters at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago on Monday.
Trump added that "everything should be looked at, but I'm a big believer in the polio vaccine." However, asked if he thinks schools should require vaccines, he responded, "I don't like mandates. I'm not a big mandate person."
He also said that his administration would "look into" why autism rates are much higher now than they were decades ago.
"Right now, you have some very brilliant people looking at it," Trump said.
"We're going to look into finding, why is the autism rate so much higher than it was 20, 25, 30 years ago? And it's like — it's 100 times higher. There's something wrong, and we're going to try that," he said.
Polio, or poliomyelitis, is a highly contagious viral illness that primarily impacts children under the age of five. The virus spreads through contaminated food, water, or direct contact with an infected individual, attacking nerve cells in the spinal cord and leading to muscle weakness, degeneration, and paralysis.
A vaccine for polio has been in use in the U.S. since 1955 and is deemed safe and effective. It has led to the elimination of natural polio transmission in the country since 1979, while polio cases have decreased by more than 99 percent across the world since 1988, according to the CDC.
The New York Times revealed this week that in 2022, an attorney linked to Kennedy filed a petition with the US Food and Drug Administration seeking to revoke approval of the polio vaccine currently used in the United States on the grounds that the agency didn't conduct sufficient safety studies.
The petition, which was filed by Aaron Siri, a lawyer who worked for Kennedy during his presidential campaign, asked the FDA to "withdraw or suspend the approval for IPOL for infants, toddlers, and children" on the grounds that the agency didn't conduct sufficient safety studies. IPOL is the brand name for the inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV), which is used to protect against polio.
IPOL is the only polio vaccine currently used in the United States and is part of the routine childhood immunization schedule. It protects against all three types of poliovirus and is considered safe and effective for preventing polio, which can cause paralysis or death.
An FDA spokesperson told CNN on Friday that the agency is still reviewing the petition.
"The FDA is continuing to review the petition," they said. "We cannot predict when the reviews will be completed. The FDA will consider the concerns outlined in the petition as a final decision is made. The FDA will respond directly to the petitioner, and that response will be posted on the docket. Until such time, we cannot comment further."
What People Are Saying
Kennedy's previous remarks on vaccines have left some GOP senators reluctant to get behind his nomination as Health and Human Services Secretary, with Mitch McConnell leading concerns with his comments this week.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski added that despite Kennedy's recent comment on the vaccine, she still had more questions about his views on other vaccines.
"I haven't heard that," Murkowski told CNN. "But then I guess it begs the question: is it just that one vaccine or kind of where is it coming from more broadly?"
However, Trump has repeatedly defended Kennedy on his record on vaccines.
Asked about Kennedy's views on vaccines on Monday, Trump said, "I think he's going to be much less radical than you would think. I think he's got a very open mind, or I wouldn't have put him there."
What Happens Next
Kennedy Jr. now faces a potentially uphill battle to be confirmed by the Senate as he attempts to convince lawmakers that he will protect vaccine mandates. Since his nomination, he has sought to distance himself from his past anti-vaccine statements.
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