His cousin Caroline Kennedy, daughter of President John F. Kennedy, had accused him the previous day of being a “predator” that “enjoyed showing how he put chickens and mice in a blender to feed her hawks”, an interested hypocrite and a danger For public health. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., however, appeared on Wednesday in the United States Senate disguised with lamb skin. Trying to achieve confirmation of his appointment as Secretary of Health of the Donald Trump Cabinet, he unmarked as his positions from the past. “I am not an anti -Vacunas,” he said before a commission that surrounded questions for his anti -scientific positions.
The candidate has spread anti -scientific guys and falsehoods and asked the Food and Medicines Administration (FDA) to terminate the authorization that he had granted to vaccines against COVID, who saved millions of lives worldwide and They helped overcome pandemia. He affirmed that “there is no vaccine that is safe and effective” and repeatedly requested that routine children’s vaccinations are thoroughly studied, despite decades of research and use in the real world that demonstrate that they have prevented diseases safely. He argued that vaccines cause autism and allergies. In addition, it participates in a lawsuit against Merck for the human papillomavirus vaccine that is administered to protect against cervical cancer. This Wednesday, however, he said: “I think vaccines play a fundamental role in health care.”
Kennedy’s appearance was interrupted twice by public attendees who had to be evicted from the room. “It lies!” One of them shouted when he defended the vaccines. Kennedy must undergo a second audience before senators vote on their confirmation. Republicans control 53 of the 100 seats, so they can only afford three of their senators, because in case of a tie the vice president, JD Vance, would frighten the draw.
His proclamation did not convince the Democrats. “It is a risk that is too big for our country, and there is no reason for any of us to believe that he has reversed the anti -vacussion opinions he has promoted for 25 years,” Maggie Hassan, a senator for New Hampshire, told him. “Look, you shouldn’t fool anyone. Children may die, but Robert Kennedy can continue to make the box, ”Elizabeth Warren, senator for Massachusetts, told how she has benefited financially from her anti -vacacunic activities and intends to continue doing it even as Secretary of Health, by virtue of the demand against Merck. Senator Bernie Sanders even showed some of the T -shirts of the Children’s Health Defense (children’s health defense), which Kennedy founded, in which the motto was read: “Without vaccine there are no problems.”
![Senator Bernie Sanders shows in the Senate T -shirts with Anti -Vacunas Logos of an organization founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.](https://imagenes.elpais.com/resizer/v2/UCQ3GQIP74MCURZ2MMPTU52IOM.jpg?auth=82558031f1ca6f25cbbfaa8ac43660e5fac9a2da4489b4782be9d1daf3551637&width=414)
Kennedy has not cared to deny his defense of the right to abortion, which aroused suspicion among the Republican senators. At his hearing, the candidate aligned himself with the positions contrary to abortion and even left the door open to harden the regulation of access to the abortive pill based on what Donald Trump decides. “Do what I do, I will put these policies into practice, and I will work with this committee so that these policies make sense,” said Kennedy. Sanders replied: “I have never seen any important politician around that issue as quickly as you did when Trump asked him to become Secretary of Health. Tell me why they believe that people should trust their coherence and their work when he really took a 180 -degree turn on a subject of that importance, ”he released.
In his initial speech, Kennedy focused on his warning on how chronic diseases have grown up in the United States, but that is when he first rejected his anti -vaccine label. “I’m prosecurity,” he said.
Kennedy wants to eliminate fluorinated water, against the instructions of experts, and also defends raw milk without pasteurizing, despite the danger of infections it represents. It also attacks the eating habits of the Americans, but in that matter what postulates is more information. “I don’t want to take away the food from anyone. If you like a hamburger with McDonald’s cheese and a Coca-Cola Light like my boss [en referencia a Donald Trump] You should be able to get them, ”he said.
The candidate showed ignorance of public health insurance systems, Medicare (which mainly covers the elderly) and Medicaid (for citizens with less resources), although if the Senate confirms it it will be responsible for they.
Kennedy’s controversial positions about science, vaccines and food led dozens of Nobel awards to ask the Senate to reject their confirmation.
Evelyn Hockstein (Reuters)