The man who hopes to be President Donald Trump’s health secretary said he needed to see data showing vaccines are safe, but when an influential Republican senator did so, he dismissed it.

Summary

During his Senate confirmation hearing for Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dismissed scientific evidence on vaccine safety despite claiming he would follow the data.

He rejected studies debunking vaccine-autism links, downplayed COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness, and avoided endorsing the HPV vaccine.

His remarks on racial differences in vaccination raised further concerns.

Lawmakers and health experts criticized his reliance on flawed research, warning his leadership could erode public trust and revive preventable diseases.

His confirmation remains contentious.

  • HubertManne@moist.catsweat.com
    2·
    1 hour ago

    contentious?! Im so sick of these options that could not be worse if someone were raised and trained to be as crap at a job as possible.

  • 21Cabbage@lemmynsfw.comEnglish
    19·
    6 hours ago

    I mean the goal is just to convince the American public that they don’t want healthcare because that’s way easier than trying to do anything about our healthcare being fucked.

    • brucethemoose@lemmy.world
      11·
      5 hours ago

      Vaccines are gigantic cost savers. Even assuming most “tough it out,” vaccines are massively cheaper than treating those who show up to the ER.

      • Jhex@lemmy.world
        2·
        37 minutes ago

        That’s only true if you are to save the person now ailed by a preventable disease.

        The GOP couldn’t care a little if a few million of the plebes die… They will get the vaccines and healthcare, it’s the peasants that will suffer

  • cabron_offsets@lemmy.world
    137·
    10 hours ago

    Might have something to do with the glaring fact that he is mentally defective and completely untrained in anything related to science or medicine.

  • henfredemars@infosec.pubEnglish
    681·
    9 hours ago

    I miss when we had actual leaders, and that includes a willingness to admit that you don’t know everything and defer to experts.

    • parody@lemmings.world
      261·
      8 hours ago

      Hey, you know that Rand Paul guy? He was letting some air come out of his mouth yesterday. When he said we need an honest debate…

      Bro, what makes you think you would be a part of an honest debate? You’re not qualified.

      • danc4498@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        44 minutes ago

        the reason you have distrust from people at home and why they don’t believe anything you say and they don’t believe government at all is you’re telling my kid to take a Hepatitis B vaccine when he’s one day old. You get it through drug use and sexually transmitted. That’s how you get Hepatitis B, but you’re telling me my kid has to take it at one day old … that’s not science.

        The “That’s not science” kills me. Just because you don’t understand the science doesn’t mean it isn’t science.

  • spooky2092@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    421·
    9 hours ago

    Oh wow, who ever would have thought that republicans saying they want evidence is a fucking lie and they just wanted an excuse to do shitty things.

  • Asafum@feddit.nl
    581·
    9 hours ago

    It needs to be presented by some schmuck in front of a computer saying “this is what they don’t want you to know!” Then he’ll believe it.

  • NABDad@lemmy.worldEnglish
    101·
    7 hours ago

    A past boss of mine used to say, “Did God say so?”

    However, in his case it wasn’t because he denied science and believed that the Bible was the only “knowledge” you needed, but rather that he believed God was the only authority who could overrule him.

    He was actually a generally rational person, but if you wanted to contradict him, you’d need a series of peer reviewed, repeatable, double-blind studies proving he was wrong. And even then, he’d probably want God to comment.