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Democratic lawmakers on the U.S. Senate’s Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions ((HELP) Committee on Tuesday launched an investigation into Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to dismantle a key CDC vaccine advisory panel, according to Reuters.
“The harm your actions will cause is significant,” the Senators wrote in a letter to RFK Jr., referring to his abrupt removal of all 17 members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) in June, citing conflict of interest.
Days later, Kennedy picked eight new members for the panel, while one member dropped out ahead of the newly formed Advisory Committee’s first meeting late last month.
“As your new ACIP makes recommendations based on pseudoscience, fewer and fewer Americans will have access to fewer and fewer vaccines,” they added.
Democrats sought the information on alleged conflicts of interest and other details that led to the removals by Aug. 12. They also asked RFK Jr. to disclose details about the individuals behind the firings and the role played by each of them, including Lyn Redwood, who once led the antivaccine group Children’s Health Defense.
Redwood, who served for years as president of Children’s Health Defense, founded by RFK Jr., made a presentation to the ACIP members at the panel’s meeting on June 25. Democratic Senators asked who set the agenda for that meeting and who was responsible for selecting Redwood as a presenter.
“As you give a platform to conspiracy theorists and even promote their theories yourself, Americans will continue to lose confidence in whatever vaccines are still available,” the Senators wrote.
The investigation was launched after HELP’s Republican chairman, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La), denied requests for a bipartisan investigation made by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt), a spokesperson for the Independent Senator said.
Senators Tim Kaine, Maggie Hassan, John Hickenlooper, Ed Markey, Andy Kim, Lisa Blunt Rochester, and Angela Alsobrooks were among other signatories to the letter, according to Reuters.
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