Congresswoman Kim Schrier, D-Sammamish, held a press conference Wednesday, Jan. 8 in Washington, D.C., to speak on the importance of vaccines for public health and against the nomination of Robert Kennedy Jr. as Department of Health and Human Services secretary.
Schrier, represents the 8th District, which covers all or parts of King, Chelan, Douglas, Kittitas, Pierce and Snohomish counties, including portions of the cities of Kent and Auburn. She was joined at the press conference by Dr. Josh Green, Democratic governor of Hawaii; Shaughnessy Naughton, president and co-founder of 314 Action, a nonprofit political action committee; and U.S. Reps. Ami Bera, D-California, Lauren Underwood, D-Illinois and Herb Conaway, D-New Jersey.
“Immunizations have saved countless lives, in the millions,” Schrier said, according to a Jan. 8 press release. “Because of misinformation and doubt, many worried parents would come and see me as a pediatrician. I have spent many hours reassuring them, going over the data, talking about misinformation and how dangerous it is, and what the data actually shows.
“Sowing needless doubt in the minds of parents and the citizens of this country should disqualify Robert Kennedy Jr. from this job. Make no mistake: stoking vaccine hesitancy will lead to deaths. We are here to let the incoming Trump Administration and the Senate know that we believe RFK Jr. is not only unqualified for this role but would be dangerous to the nation and to the rest of the world.”
Green spoke on his firsthand experience vaccinating Samoans after a deadly measles outbreak that killed dozens of children following RFK Jr.’s disinformation campaign, according to the press release. That campaign was in 2018. Kennedy has denied any responsibility for the measles outbreak, according to several media reports.
Kennedy has a history of comments against vaccines, and falsely blames them for causing autism in children.
“Many studies have looked at whether there is a relationship between vaccines and autism spectrum disorder (ASD),” according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website. “To date, the studies continue to show that vaccines are not associated with ASD.”
A Senate confirmation date for Kennedy has yet to be set. President Trump takes office on Jan. 20 and nominated Kennedy for the position in his administration.
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