ill-conceivedWASHINGTON, Dec. 9 – Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), along with all HELP Committee Democrats, today called on Chairman Bill Cassidy (R-La.) to hold an immediate oversight hearing with Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Joining Sanders on the letter are Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.).
The demand letter follows a disastrous vote by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) to end the decades-long recommendation that all newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine at birth. That vaccine has helped drive down infections among infants and young children from 20,000 a year to fewer than 20. Earlier this year, Kennedy packed the critical scientific body with vaccine deniers.
“Since assuming office, Secretary Kennedy has waged an unprecedented war on science and vaccines that have saved millions of lives,” Sanders and the senators wrote. “Holding an oversight hearing on Secretary Kennedy’s ill-conceived actions is more important now than ever.”
Sanders and the senators outline the dangerous decisions that have characterized Kennedy’s tenure, including directing the CDC to publish false information about vaccines and autism, defunding vaccine research, and upending ACIP’s scientific process for reviewing and recommending vaccines despite Kennedy’s commitment to Cassidy that he would not alter the advisory body.
“Under Secretary Kennedy’s leadership, over 1,700 people have been infected with measles. Whooping cough cases are surging nationwide, and concerns about a severe flu season continue to grow. Vaccination rates across the country are falling. Children are dying from illnesses that vaccines could have prevented,” the senators continued. “Secretary Kennedy’s response to these crises has been to spread misinformation, end campaigns encouraging flu vaccinations, fire officials who disagree with him, and place individuals with significant conflicts of interest in positions of power—completely undermining Americans’ faith in our nation’s public health institutions.”
Sanders and the senators are joined by hundreds of doctors and public health experts who have sounded the alarm about Kennedy’s actions, including former CDC directors and Food and Drug Administration commissioners, six former surgeons general, more than 1,000 current and former HHS staff, the American College of Physicians, the Academic Pediatric Association, the Infectious Diseases Society of America, and the American Public Health Association.
In February, Cassidy stated on the Senate floor that Kennedy committed to quarterly testimony before the HELP Committee. Unacceptably, it has been seven months since he last appeared.
“Failure to conduct an oversight hearing on Secretary Kennedy’s actions would be an abdication of our responsibility—both from a moral perspective and as a matter of sound public health policy,” the senators concluded. “The time has come for the HELP Committee to hold Secretary Kennedy accountable for his actions. It is imperative that Secretary Kennedy come before our Committee to testify as soon as possible.”
Read the letter here.
