US Senate Democrats to investigate Kennedy's firing of vaccine expert panel
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Democrats on the U.S. Senate's health committee launched an investigation on Tuesday into Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s firing of all members of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention panel of vaccine experts.
Kennedy last month fired the 17 members of the CDC's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which reviews vaccines approved by the Food and Drug Administration before making recommendations to the CDC on their use. Kennedy replaced them with hand-picked advisers including anti-vaccine activists.
"The harm your actions will cause is significant. As your new ACIP makes recommendations based on pseudoscience, fewer and fewer Americans will have access to fewer and fewer vaccines," Democrats on the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee wrote to Kennedy in a letter reviewed by Reuters.
A spokesperson for Senator Bernie Sanders said committee Democrats launched the investigation after Senator Bill Cassidy, the committee's Republican chairman, denied his call for a bipartisan investigation. Cassidy's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Democrats requested Kennedy provide information on the firings by August 12, including details of the alleged conflict of interest for each fired member and note how they differ from ones they previously disclosed.
Kennedy said at the time that he fired the committee because it was rife with conflicts, but provided no specific evidence of conflicts among any departing members.
They requested that Kennedy outline everyone involved in the firing decision within and out of government, asking about the role played by specific individuals, including Lyn Redwood, the former leader of an anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy.
Redwood led a presentation at the newly constituted ACIP's first meeting. The Democratic senators asked who approved the meeting agenda and who selected Redwood as presenter.
They asked for all communications and documents on the appointment of the new members, including selection criteria, the vetting process, and proof they complied with government ethics requirements.
"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.
Kennedy said the firings were to restore public confidence in vaccines.
"Millions more lives are at risk from vaccine-preventable diseases if you continue to undermine vaccine access through ACIP," said the letter, which in addition to Sanders was signed by Senators Tim Kaine, Maggie Hassan, John Hickenlooper, Ed Markey, Andy Kim, Lisa Blunt Rochester and Angela Alsobrooks.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
26 minutes ago
- The Hill
85 percent of parents worry about tariffs affecting back-to-school cost: Survey
Tariff concerns are affecting parents as they begin back-to-school shopping early to avoid the higher costs they believe are coming for school supplies, according to a Wednesday survey from U.S. News. Sixty percent of parents already began back-to-school shopping as 62 percent expect to pay more this year than last year, according to the survey. Eighty-five percent of parents said they were concerned about rising prices due to tariffs when thinking about back-to-school shopping. The survey found that 57 percent of Americans are cutting back on back-to-school shopping due to concerns of rising prices, with the top categories targeted for drawbacks including clothes and shoes, accessories and technology. Thirteen percent of parents expect to pay more than $500 per child in back-to-school costs this year, almost double the amount that felt the same in 2024. Concerns about how tariffs will affect prices come as President Trump aims to implemen t new tariffs on Aug. 7, which has caused markets to fall around the world. While the president has discussed frameworks for deals with some countries, others such as Canada face a 35 percent tariff. The president delayed a similar tariff on Mexico. 'The complexities of a Deal with Mexico are somewhat different than other Nations because of both the problems, and assets, of the Border,' Trump posted Thursday on Truth Social. 'We have agreed to extend, for a 90 Day period, the exact same Deal as we had for the last short period of time.'
The Hill
26 minutes ago
- The Hill
Senate Democrats call for probe into DOJ settlement over Hewlett Packard-Juniper merger
Several Senate Democrats are calling for an investigation into the Department of Justice's (DOJ) decision to settle a lawsuit blocking Hewlett Packard Enterprise's (HPE) $14 billion acquisition of Juniper Networks. Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Cory Booker (N.J.), Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.) raised concerns to the DOJ inspector general Friday about the circumstances surrounding the proposed settlement. Two top officials in the agency's antitrust division — Roger Alford, principal deputy assistant attorney general, and Bill Rinner, deputy assistant attorney general and head of merger enforcement — were recently fired for insubordination. The firings reportedly followed internal disagreements over merger policy, in which Attorney General Pam Bondi's chief of staff overruled the antitrust division's head, Gail Slater, to approve the HPE-Juniper settlement. 'In all, these events reflect a concerning pattern of behavior within the DOJ and point to possible politicization of the process by which the DOJ analyzes proposed mergers and acquisitions, as well as undertakes and resolves enforcement actions,' the senators wrote in a letter to acting DOJ Inspector General William Blier. 'We are concerned that, in addition to improper interference in the enforcement of our laws, the full extent and parties involved in this coercive campaign are not known and that other improper conduct could have occurred,' they continued. The Justice Department sued to block the merger between the nation's second- and third-largest wireless network providers in January, shortly after President Trump took office. The lawsuit marked a key point of continuity with the Biden administration, which had been preparing to challenge the merger. HPE and Juniper pushed back on the lawsuit at the time, arguing the DOJ's analysis was 'fundamentally flawed' and the merger would allow the companies to 'more effectively compete with global incumbents.' In late June, the agency announced a settlement, allowing the acquisition to go forward as long as HPE divests its division for small and medium businesses and licenses Juniper's software to independent competitors. Axios reported Wednesday that the U.S. intelligence community weighed in on the lawsuit, urging the DOJ to allow the merger to proceed to boost American companies competing with China's Huawei. The senators argued the settlement fails to address the issues raised in the DOJ's initial lawsuit, which suggested the merger would essentially result in a duopoly in the market between HPE-Juniper and Cisco. They also underscored HPE's reported decision to hire lobbyists with close ties to the Trump administration, as well as the subsequent firings of antitrust officials. The same four senators raised concerns to Hewlett Packard president and CEO Enrique Lores in a separate letter Friday about what they described as the company's 'hiring of political consultants in an apparent attempt to assert undue influence, if not coercion' to settle the DOJ lawsuit. 'HPE's hiring of these consultant close to the Trump family and White House creates the appearance that it sought to use outside political pressure and retaliation against the Antitrust Division to end its lawsuit and reporting suggests that the full scope of HPE's consultants or influence campaign has not been disclosed,' they wrote. They pressed the company for information about the consultants, the nature of their work and any discussions they had with the DOJ's antitrust division or members of the Trump family. HPE spokesperson Adam Bauer said in a statement that the company is confident the Juniper acquisition is 'in the public interest and will promote further competition' in the market. 'The transaction was appropriately approved with certain remedies by the U.S. Department of Justice, and it was unconditionally approved by 13 other antitrust regulators around the world,' Bauer added. 'We respect the role our regulators play in maintaining competitive markets and appreciate the professional and constructive way in which the DOJ engaged with us in approving the deal.'
The Hill
26 minutes ago
- The Hill
Most adults do not plan on getting COVID-19 shot amid vaccine policy changes
More than half of American adults — 59 percent — say they do not expect to get the COVID-19 booster shot this autumn, according to new poll findings from healthcare policy group KFF. Poll results show that 23 percent of U.S. adults say they will 'probably not' get the vaccine, while 37 percent will 'definitely not' get the shot. Americans who said they will 'probably' or 'definitely' not get the shot were also more likely to say they think changes to U.S. vaccine policy are 'major' and will make people less safe. The data comes as the Trump administration makes drastic changes to the country's vaccine policy. Secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced earlier this year that the COVID-19 shot will no longer be recommended for healthy children and pregnant women. Kennedy also abruptly fired all 17 members of an independent vaccine advisory panel for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in June. He then replaced the panel with eight hand-picked appointees, many of whom have expressed vaccine skepticism in the past. Adults who identify as Republicans are far less likely to plan on getting the vaccine compared to those who identify as Democrats. About six out of 10 Republicans said they would 'definitely not' get the shot compared to about one out of 10 Democrats, according to the poll. White adults are the most likely to say that they are against getting the vaccine once the colder months arrive with about four out of 10 admitting they will 'definitely not' get the shot. Meanwhile, 32 percent of Black adults say they will 'definitely not' get the COVID-19 vaccine this fall, along with 30 percent of adults who identify as Hispanic. Adults between the ages of 30 and 49 are the most likely to say that they do not plan on getting the vaccine, with 42 percent of that age group saying they will 'definitely not' get the shot in the fall. The U.S. appears to be experiencing another summer wave of COVID-19 cases. As of July 29, COVID-19 infections are growing or likely growing in 40 states, including Florida, Texas, and New York, according to the CDC. The KFF poll was conducted via a national representative survey of about 1,300 people between July 8-14.
