RFK Jr. is a ‘charlatan’ risking U.S. health : NPR

Senator Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., Questions the secretary of health and social services, Robert Kennedy Jr.

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The Secretary of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., faced fierce questions from members of the two parties during a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday, in particular strong criticism from Senator Maria Cantwell, a Democrat of Washington, who called him a “charlatan”.

Cantwell criticized Kennedy’s decision to cancel hundreds of millions of research funds for future mRNA vaccines, saying that research was necessary for future preparation for the pandemic.

Kennedy answered Cantwell saying “I am happy to have a detailed discussion with you. You are so wrong on your facts.”

But even the Republicans took Kennedy to finance research on vaccines by mRNA. Kennedy has been the subject of a meticulous examination of Democrats and the community of medical sciences for the actions taken since the start of the second Trump administration, in particular the dismissal of the entire Consulting Committee for Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Earlier this year, the newly appointed committee revealed its intention to study the safety of certain infant vaccines – a decision which, according to some health professionals, is supposed to question the decades of research on the safety of vaccines.

During a controversial three -hour hearing, Kennedy defended the modifications to the CDC saying that they were “necessary adjustments to restore the agency to its role as a global public health agency”.

In an interview Morning editionCantwell accused Kennedy of “not following science”.

She continued: “We simply cannot have a health care system undermined by the chief architect of what our health care service system should look like.”

Addressing Michel Martin of NPR, Cantwell discussed the hearing of the Senate and why she is worried about the Health Care Department in the United States under the leadership of Kennedy.

This interview has been modified for duration and clarity.

Strengths of the interview

Michel Martin: You were among the senators who had a few words of choice for Kennedy. You called him a “charlatan” at some point. Did you feel this before reaching the hearing, or was it something he said at the hearing that led you to this conclusion?

Senator Maria Cantwell: Well, when I looked at the huge cup he makes to help us prepare for the next pandemic and explain everything he said about vaccines, the word came to me that it is a guy who is a charlatan. He wrongly claims expertise, knowledge, produces any of the data, then puts us in this incredible disadvantaged position. While I was preparing myself for the hearing, the word comes to mind.

Martin: By disadvantaged position, you mean in relation to other countries? Compared to our preparation for a future pandemic? What did you mean by that?

Cantwell: The five -year estimate on what Covid cost the world economy is 82 dollars. Go online and watch Bill Gates and his Ted Talk in 2014. He mainly said as a country, we have to prepare for pandemics. It was then that Ebola was on the front. We did not know that Covid was going to hit us hard in the United States, and yet it is. So you have to prepare for these things. And what Kennedy does by removing this money is saying: “I’m not going to be prepared. We will not be prepared for the next pandemic. So that’s the problem.

Publisher’s note: an economic impact report from the University of Cambridge in May 2020 estimated that the global economy should lose Up to 82 billions of dollars of GDP over five years due to the pandemic.

During a controversial three -hour hearing, the Secretary of Health and Social Services, Robert Kennedy Jr., defended the modifications to the CDC, saying that it was “the necessary adjustments to restore the agency to its role as a global public health agency of gold standards”.

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Martin: Do you think that the movements that secretary Kennedy has since taken since he was confirmed is in variance with what he said during his confirmation hearings? Do you think he induced the Senate induced on his intentions?

Cantwell: Well, absolutely. He said he was going to be the ordeal of science. And obviously, he gives us the bottom of the barrel. It does not give us the ordeal for science. It does not produce information or individuals. He mainly tries to refute more than 100 years of history on vaccines. And this is what I presented at the hearing, a painting that showed the 20th century. This is what it looked like with all these problems – measles, polio and many things eradicated. And yet, he says now, “I don’t know if you should take the measles vaccine”. He promotes an idea that we might not have to use these vaccines. We therefore now have an increase of 400% compared to last year. We are not even halfway through the year, an increase of 400% in the number of measles. It is therefore not the gold stallion. It is someone who undermines the health care system.

Martin: Some of your Republican colleagues have also questioned the secretary’s actions since he took office. You said you didn’t go and share what they tell you in private. But if a large number of you and your colleagues feel induced by what he said during his confirmation hearing and what he has done since, what can they do about it?

Cantwell: Well, we have two doctors of the Senate Republicans who mainly questioned his same cup of these funds, his lack of support for important vaccines for children. And I hope they will continue this case. I hope they will go to the president and continue to push the fact that this particular candidate said that he was going to follow science and that he does not follow science. And we simply cannot have a health care system undermined by the chief architect of what our health care service system should look like.

Martin: So, on the basis of what Kennedy said yesterday and his recent actions, such as placing anti-vaccine activists on a CDC consulting committee, such as putting an end to numerous research subsidies or promoting unproven treatments during a deadly epidemic of measles, what are your concerns about the long-term impact on the country’s vaccination system?

Cantwell: Well, once again, go back, you know, Bill Gates and Gates Foundation have done a lot of this work because they have a global imprint. But when you look at this, what we have found with Ebola is that we have to start fighting wherever he manages. So the fact is that you must have a system.