THIS is more than lunatic fringe bullshit, this is a real and serious threat to the health of our nation and must be taken seriously. Remember, (NOT MY) president-elect drumpf / trump was not taken seriously 10 years ago but look where we are politically now! These no government conspiracy theorist and anarchist will keep pushing these conspiracy theories, these lies and deceptions to the point that we will not only have to fear measles, mumps, TB, whooping cough and polio but yellow fever, scarlet fever, cholera and the plague just to name a few. Our congress, our senators and representatives need to reject robert f kennedy jr, aaron siri, dave weldon, andrew wakefield, ann millan, robert krakow and all others of the anti-vaccine community who need to be kept out of the American government's health and welfare agencies for the safety and protection of our nation. E mail your senators and representatives and tell them to unite to reject these people and all sharing their views and attitudes for any roll in any and all agencies involved in the health and safety of the nation. From the Washington Post.....
RFK Jr. ally filed petition to revoke FDA approval for polio vaccine
The New York Times first reported on the polio petition. Siri filed the petition on behalf of the Informed Consent Action Network, an influential anti-vaccine group. In the 2022 petition, he raised questions about the safety of the polio vaccine and argued for more studies to be conducted.
Scientific studies have repeatedly shown the polio vaccine, the first formulations of which emerged in the 1950s, to be safe.
President-elect Donald Trump last month selected Kennedy to lead the nation’s sprawling Department of Health and Human Services. If confirmed by the Senate, Kennedy, founder of a prominent anti-vaccine group, would have authority over the FDA, which is responsible for vaccine safety. Kennedy, who has denied being anti-vaccine, has repeatedly linked the childhood vaccine schedule to autism — a claim that has been debunked by scientists.
Siri has been working as a top adviser for Kennedy as he builds out his staffing and plans for HHS, according to one person with direct knowledge who spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid. Siri declined to comment.
“Mr. Siri has never had a conversation about these petitions with Mr. Kennedy or any of the HHS nominees at any point,” Katie Miller, a Trump transition spokeswoman for Kennedy, said in an interview. The vaccine “should be investigated and studied appropriately. We should be as transparent as possible, as it relates to vaccines, but it should be available to the public.”
FDA spokeswoman Cherie Duvall-Jones said the agency is continuing to review Siri’s petition and cannot comment further.
“The FDA will consider the concerns outlined in the petition as a final decision is made,” she said.
In response to reporting about Siri’s petition, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), who battled polio as a child, forcefully denounced attempts to cast doubt on the polio vaccine, which he said has “saved millions of lives and held out the promise of eradicating a terrible disease.”
“I have never flinched from confronting specious disinformation that threatens the advance of lifesaving medical progress, and I will not today,” McConnell said in a statement. “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.”
Public health experts have called vaccines the greatest public health achievement of the 20th century, concluding that they have helped stamp out diseases such as polio that used to terrify Americans.
“People forget that a president of the United States was paralyzed by polio. FDR struggled to use his legs for the rest of his life,” said Richard Hughes IV, a former vice president of public policy at Moderna who teaches vaccine policy at the George Washington Law School. “Every summer, mothers were afraid. They lived in fear of letting their children go off to the swimming pool.”
Despite the overwhelming evidence available about the safety of the polio vaccine, Hughes said Kennedy and his allies have “consistently made false safety claims and said that we need additional safety data.”
“I foresee a potential situation where they try to put forward alternative safety data or insist that the safety data isn’t there,” he said.
Trump has said he will do “very serious testing” of vaccines and suggested in a Time magazine interview published Thursday that he could get rid of some vaccines if they are “dangerous” and “not beneficial.”
But he has repeatedly praised the polio vaccine, including on “Meet the Press” this month.
“Hey, look, I’m not against vaccines. The polio vaccine is the greatest thing,” Trump said in the interview. “If somebody told me to get rid of the polio vaccine, they’re going to have to work real hard to convince me. I think vaccines are — certain vaccines — are incredible. But maybe some aren’t.”
Vaccines go through several stages of clinical trials and are typically studied in thousands of people to determine their safety and effectiveness before they are approved for the market.
Ayman Chit, medical head of Sanofi’s North America vaccines division, said the polio vaccine has undergone nearly 50 years of clinical studies and safety monitoring, and the absence of polio outbreaks in North American and European countries that have robust vaccination programs is a “testament of their contribution to polio eradication.”
“Sanofi’s vaccines undergo continuous monitoring and evaluation to ensure their safety and effectiveness,” Chit said in a statement. The vaccines “have been widely used showing not only to provide an acceptable safety profile but also high levels of long-lasting immunity.”
Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, said vaccines are “clearly the most important prevention tool that we have.”
“We are on the cusp globally of the eradication of polio,” he said.
The Washington Post previously reported that Informed Consent Action Network had risen to prominence by capitalizing on the spread of medical misinformation and nearly quadrupled its revenue during the pandemic. The group paid Siri’s law firm nearly $5.3 million in 2022 — more than four times what it had paid him in 2019.
The Informed Consent Action Network did not immediately respond to requests for comment about Siri’s petition. Siri has filed other petitions on behalf of the organization to reconsider other vaccines for children, including one to revoke the emergency use authorization for the coronavirus vaccine and another to revoke or suspend the approval of hepatitis B vaccines.
Polio survivor Mitch McConnell criticizes efforts to undermine vaccine
Several people Donald Trump has tapped for high-level roles in his incoming administration have expressed vaccine skepticism, most notably Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whom the president-elect picked to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
The Washington Post on Friday confirmed that Aaron Siri, an ally of Kennedy’s who has a history of seeking to expand vaccine exemptions, petitioned the government in 2022 to reconsider its approval of a widely used polio vaccine. Siri has been working as a top adviser for Kennedy as he builds out his staffing and plans for HHS, a person with direct knowledge who spoke on the condition of anonymity to be candid told The Post. The New York Times first reported the polio petition.
Katie Miller, a Trump transition spokeswoman for Kennedy, said Siri “has never had a conversation about these petitions with Mr. Kennedy or any of the HHS nominees at any point.” The vaccine, she added, “should be investigated and studied appropriately. We should be as transparent as possible, as it relates to vaccines, but it should be available to the public.”
Friday’s statement is the first time McConnell has publicly weighed in on the nomination process beyond acknowledging meeting with Trump’s picks. His statement never mentioned Kennedy by name, but it was clear he was referring to the vaccine skeptic.
The vaccine is credited with staving off a debilitating virus that can result in permanent paralysis. Scientific studies have repeatedly shown the polio vaccine to be safe.
McConnell, who will step down from his Senate leadership position at the end of this term, said in his statement, “From the age of two, normal life without paralysis was only possible for me because of the miraculous combination of modern medicine and a mother’s love. But for millions who came after me, the real miracle was the saving power of the polio vaccine.”
Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-New York) also pressed Kennedy on Friday to publicly state where he stands on the issue of polio vaccinations.
“It’s outrageous and dangerous for people in the Trump Transition to try and get rid of the polio vaccine that has virtually eradicated polio in America and saved millions of lives. RFK Jr. must state his position on this,” Schumer wrote on X.
If confirmed by the Senate, Kennedy, founder of a prominent anti-vaccine group, would have authority over the Food and Drug Administration, which is responsible for vaccine safety. Kennedy, who has denied being anti-vaccine, has repeatedly linked the childhood vaccine schedule to autism — a claim that has been debunked by scientists.
Trump said in an interview with Time magazine this week that his incoming administration will study the safety of childhood vaccines and the scientifically debunked claim linking vaccinations to autism. He also suggested he could eliminate some vaccines if he thinks they’re “dangerous.”
Rachel Roubein and Lauren Weber contributed to this report.
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