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United States Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr sparred with US senators implicit his absorption of wellness agencies and past comments astir COVID-19 vaccines and antidepressants. At respective points during the hours-long Senate Finance Committee proceeding connected Thursday, Kennedy said senators were making up accusation oregon distorting his record.
“You are being dishonest close now,” helium told Democrat Senator Tina Smith aft she said helium had blamed antidepressants connected a caller schoolhouse shooting successful her location authorities of Minnesota.
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When Republican Senator Bill Cassidy from Louisiana said the authorities was “effectively” denying radical vaccines, Kennedy retorted, “You’re wrong.
“You’re conscionable making worldly up to scare people, and it’s a lie,” helium said to Senator Maggie Hassan, a New Hampshire Democrat who said Kennedy was limiting entree to COVID-19 vaccines.
PolitiFact fact-checked immoderate of the astir notable back-and-forth moments from Kennedy’s testimony.
How galore Americans died from COVID?
Senator Mark Warner asked Kennedy whether helium accepts that “a cardinal Americans died from COVID.”
“I don’t cognize however galore died,” Kennedy said.
“You’re the caput of Health and Human Services,” Warner said. “You don’t person immoderate thought however galore Americans died from COVID?”
“I don’t deliberation anybody knows that due to the fact that determination was truthful overmuch information chaos coming retired of the CDC,” Kennedy said.
More than 1 cardinal Americans person died from COVID-19, according to aggregate statistical estimates.
Many patients who died had comorbidities, including hypertension, cardiovascular illness and diabetes. Researchers say that identifying causal relationships betwixt comorbidities and outcomes successful COVID-19 is methodologically difficult.
Kennedy changes tune connected 2020 COVID vaccine initiative
Cassidy asked Kennedy if helium agreed that President Donald Trump deserves a Nobel Prize for Operation Warp Speed, Trump’s 2020 inaugural that resulted successful the accelerated improvement of COVID-19 vaccines.
“Absolutely,” Kennedy said.
Cassidy said Kennedy’s enactment amazed him, due to the fact that of Kennedy’s COVID-19 vaccine criticisms and actions. Kennedy cancelled funding for mRNA vaccine research, the subject that led to the accelerated improvement of the vaccine.
In 2021, Kennedy falsely said the COVID-19 vaccine was the “deadliest vaccine ever made”.
In the September 4 hearing, Kennedy said that Operation Warp Speed was “genius” due to the fact that “it got the vaccine to marketplace that was perfectly matched to the microorganism astatine that time, erstwhile it was severely needed due to the fact that determination was debased earthy immunity and oregon radical getting precise severely injured by COVID.”
‘Everybody’ can’t get COVID-19 vaccines
Hassan said Kennedy was limiting people’s entree to the COVID-19 vaccine.
“People who privation to workout their state of prime are being denied that due to the fact that you are citing information that you won’t nutrient to the public,” Hassan said.
Kennedy pushed back.
“Everybody tin get the vaccine,” Kennedy said. “You’re conscionable making things up to scare people, and it’s a lie.”
The Food and Drug Administration has constricted the groups of radical who are approved to get the astir updated COVID-19 vaccine. Anyone property 65 and older and immoderate idiosyncratic 6 months and older who has astatine slightest 1 underlying wellness information that increases their hazard of terrible COVID-19 corruption are approved to get the 2025-26 COVID-19 vaccine, according to August 27 guidance.
People who don’t acceptable into those categories aren’t banned from getting a COVID-19 vaccine. But getting 1 mightiness necessitate doctors to prescribe the vaccine “off-label”, making the process much challenging and perchance much costly.
Kennedy’s unsupported necktie of convulsive crime, antidepressants
Smith said Kennedy blamed schoolhouse shootings connected antidepressants aft the August 27 shooting at Annunciation Catholic School successful Minneapolis that killed 2 children and injured 21 people. Kennedy said Smith was “just making worldly up” and helium had not said that.
During an August 28 interview, a “Fox & Friends” big asked Kennedy if the authorities was investigating whether sex dysphoria medications play a relation successful convulsive crimes. Robin Westman, the 23-year-old who fired done the windows of the Minneapolis religion during a greeting Mass, was assigned antheral astatine commencement and aboriginal changed names to bespeak a pistillate identity.
Kennedy said that the Health and Human Services Department is “launching studies connected the imaginable publication of immoderate of the SSRI drugs and immoderate of the different psychiatric drugs that mightiness beryllium contributing to violence”. SSRI drugs – selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors – are a people of antidepressant.
Kennedy previously has linked antidepressants to convulsive crime.
Psychiatry experts person told PolitiFact and different fact-checkers determination isn’t a causal narration betwixt antidepressants and shootings. About 11 percent of the nation’s big colonisation uses antidepressants, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Experts accidental if determination were a nexus betwixt unit and the medications, they would expect higher rates of violence.
Senator Ben Ray Luján and RFK Jr spar implicit the relation of vaccine skeptic David Geier astatine HHS
Senator Ben Ray Luján and Kennedy had a backmost and distant implicit Kennedy’s hiring of David Geier, a longtime vaccine critic.
In March, the Washington Post reported that Kennedy hired Geier to behaviour a survey of links betwixt vaccines and autism.
Kennedy told Luján that Geier, who is moving arsenic a contractor, is not conducting a study. Instead, Kennedy said Geier had entree to the Vaccine Safety Datalink, “the biggest repository for vaccine information”.
Kennedy didn’t specify what Geier would bash with that information. However, astatine an August 26 White House Cabinet meeting, Kennedy said his section would person announcements “finding interventions, definite interventions, present that are clearly, astir certainly, causing autism”.
Autism researchers and radical connected the autism spectrum have told PolitiFact that much radical person been diagnosed with autism arsenic its explanation and diagnostic criteria expanded implicit time; autism has no identified azygous cause.
Shooter who targeted CDC Atlanta office had intelligence wellness issues, motivated by choler implicit COVID-19 vaccines
Senator Raphael Warnock brought up the deadly August 8 shooting astatine the CDC’s office successful Atlanta, asking Kennedy if helium had been to the field arsenic wellness caput earlier the shooting.
“No,” Kennedy responded. Kennedy did visit the field aft the shooting, but nary employees were there.
Patrick Joseph White, 30, died from a self-inflicted gunshot coiled aft helium fired astir 200 rounds of ammunition, sidesplitting responding DeKalb County Police Officer David Rose.
Officials with the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said they recovered “written documentation” showing that White distrusted the COVID-19 vaccine and blamed it for making him depressed and suicidal.
Senator Bill Cassidy fact-checks RFK Jr’s statistic astir conflicts of involvement connected vaccine panel
While speaking astir a request for caller CDC leadership, Kennedy said it’s “imperative that we region officials with conflicts of involvement and catastrophically atrocious judgement and governmental agendas”.
Later successful the hearing, Senator Bill Cassidy told Kennedy helium was incorrect astir the level of struggle of involvement successful the vaccine sheet whose 17 members Kennedy precocious fired.
“It was not 97 percent arsenic alleged, rather, it was 6.9 percent,” Cassidy said.
To beryllium connected the CDC’s Advisory Committee connected Immunisation Practices, members are required to state conflicts of interest. At each gathering and anterior to each vote, members are again asked to disclose conflicts of involvement and to abstain from voting if they person one.
The CDC has published the conflicts of involvement disclosed by each subordinate astatine each gathering from 2000 to 2024.
An August 18 probe study published successful the Journal of the American Medical Association analysed conflicts of involvement successful the ACIP and the Food and Drug Administration’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee implicit the past 20 years. Researchers recovered conflicts of involvement person dropped. Conflicts of involvement successful the ACIP fell to 5 percent successful 2024.
Teacher’s national did not constitute an bid to adjacent schools.
Kennedy said “the CDC allowed the teachers national to constitute the bid to adjacent schools” during the COVID-19 pandemic.
This is misleading.
The American Federation of Teachers, the 2nd largest teacher’s national successful the US, consulted with the CDC successful 2021 connected its schoolhouse reopening guidance, but it did not “write” the bid to adjacent down schools astatine the commencement of the pandemic.
A House Select Subcommittee connected the Coronavirus Pandemic, spearheaded by Republicans, investigated whether the national had influenced the CDC’s schoolhouse reopening policy.
According to the committee, the CDC successful February 2021 shared a draught transcript of its schoolhouse reopening guidance with the teacher’s national and added a union-requested trigger that called for closing schools if COVID-19 cases reached a definite threshold.
According to a Democratic memo that Politico reported connected successful 2023, the CDC consulted aggregate stakeholders earlier the national was alert of the guidance.
The CDC consulted astir 50 organisations portion processing its guidance, according to the memo, did not invitation the teacher’s national to a forum to assistance preview the guidance, and the national received the draught days aft the CDC sent it to respective different groups for feedback. The national testified, Politico reported, that it learned astir the draught guidance from The New York Times.
Research shows fluoride successful h2o astatine recommended levels is safe
Kennedy touted his actions connected “fluoride successful our drinking water” during his opening statement. In April, Kennedy said helium would counsel the CDC to halt recommending fluoridated drinking h2o aft misleadingly linking it to crab and different wellness risks.
The CDC has agelong touted fluoridated drinking h2o arsenic 1 of the top nationalist wellness achievements of the 20th century. Research shows that drinking fluoridated h2o astatine the United States’ recommended levels – 0.7 milligrams per litre – is harmless and prevents cavities and bony decay. Health risks associated with fluoride are tied to higher levels of vulnerability than what is permitted successful US drinking water.
A new Florida instrumentality removed fluoride from drinking water, overriding section policies, this summer.
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