It seems polio survivor Mitch McConnell is not a big fan of revoking the approval of the polio vaccine.
After recent reporting by The New York Times that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s crazy lawyer, Aaron Siri, had previously petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to revoke its approval of the polio vaccine, McConnell condemned the attempts in a statement released this weekend, but failed to mention either Kennedy or Siri by name.
In a statement reported by numerous outlets on Friday, McConnell, who contracted the disease as a child in 1944 – 11 years before the licensing of the world’s first polio vaccine – said: “The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives and held out the promise of eradicating a terrible disease. Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed – they’re dangerous.”
The 82-year-old went on to add: “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.” […]
Since 1988, polio cases have decreased by more than 99% across the world, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated on its website, adding that polio vaccines have prevented approximately 20m cases of paralysis in children since then.
In response to the reports, a Trump spokesperson for Kennedy Jr told the Washington Post that Siri “has never had a conversation about these petitions with Mr Kennedy or any of the [health and human services] nominees at any point”.
Among other things, the spokesperson added that the vaccine “should be investigated and studied appropriately,” which it already has been.
It would be nice to see some of these Republicans just state the obvious for once, that Kennedy and most of these other Trump nominees have no business whatsoever anywhere near the levers of power in our government.
I expect that to happen when hell freezes over.
