Prominent Republican breaks ranks with Trump to issue stern rebuke to RFK Jr. over polio vaccine plan

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell convicted Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of Donald Trump’s administration publicly over reported plans to revoke the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of the polio vaccine.

The 82-year-old polio survivor used personal experience to attack Trump’s favorite health secretary The New York Times reported that Kennedy’s attorney had already filed a petition to have the vaccine removed from the market.

“Attempts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not only uninformed — they are dangerous,” McConnell said of attorney Aaron Siri’s bid, without naming Kennedy.

“Anyone seeking Senate approval to serve in the new administration would do well to avoid even the appearance of involvement in such efforts.” he added, with plans to resign as his party’s Senate leader next month.

“The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives and holds the promise of eradicating a terrible disease,” he added at another point in a statement sent Friday.

It emerged hours after the Time report alleged that one of his advisers had filed a petition in 2022 to revoke approval for the vaccine after decades of protecting millions from a virus that can cause paralysis or even death.

As a toddler, McConnell’s upper left leg was paralyzed by the disease in 1944. However, the treatment available at the time probably saved him from disability for the rest of his life.

About ten years later, the first successful vaccine was developed by American doctor Jonas Salk. The disease is now widely regarded as a side issue, but has come up again as Kennedy continues to wage war on vaccines.

‘Sir. Kennedy believes that the polio vaccine should be available to the public and should be thoroughly and well studied,” a Kennedy spokesman said in response to McConnell’s words Sunday as they appeared to promise pushback from the Republican Party-dominated Senate ..

Kennedy, meanwhile, has continued to argue that such vaccines could contribute to higher rates of autism – a claim that has been refuted by modern science.

McConnell seemed all too aware of this with his statement: which was sent three days after the elderly Senate minority leader fell and broke his wrist during a Senate lunch.

It served as the latest in a series of health problems for the outgoing Senate leader – including multiple falls, various health problems and a spate of bizarre, ‘freezing episodes’ that have raised even more concerns.

As a result, he faced calls to resign. The latest incident left him in a wheelchair – a fate he avoided thanks to treatments to combat the debilitating disease when he was young.

“Leader McConnell stumbled after lunch,” his spokesman told DailyMail.com on Tuesday after the incident.

‘He suffered a small cut to the face and sprained his wrist. He has been cleared to resume his schedule.”

Medical personnel were called in to assist, and in addition to the broken wrist, the senator also suffered a cut to his face.

Then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was a living reminder of how polio could ravage the body if left untreated, which the Salk vaccine made a thing of the past.

He died a year after McConnel managed to beat the disease in 1944, having experienced declining physical health due to the lack of treatments during his youth.

Siri’s work – including the polio petition reportedly filed in 2022 – appears to center around this point, choosing to seek treatments as soon as the disease surfaces, rather than nip it in the bud.

The petition further criticizes the clinical trials done to license the polio vaccine, stating that the vaccine should not be administered until a new trial is conducted. Siri represented Kennedy during his failed presidential bid.

At the time of writing, Siri is working as an advisor to JFK’s 70-year-old cousin, who, it looks like, will play a role in Trump’s looming administration as the new US Secretary of Health and Human Services.

According to media reports, Siri in his current role has helped select other health officials for the Trump administration. Siri posted a photo last month with Kennedy on his X-feed days after he was appointed.

‘A new day is about to dawn for transparency, accountability and truth! wrote the trial lawyer who once clerked for the Chief Justice of Israel’s Supreme Court.

On his law firm’s website, the attorney lists “vaccine injury” lawsuits as one of his specialties — as Kennedy’s spokesperson apparently tried to distance her boss from his associate’s 2022 filing.

If appointed, Kennedy’s department in the federal government will be tasked with maintaining and improving the “health and well-being of all Americans.”

He’s a vaccine skeptic — leading former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb to insist to CNBC last month:[If he] If he follows through on his intentions, and I believe he will, and I believe he can, it will cost lives in this country.”

Asked about Kennedy’s views on vaccines this week in an interview with Time Magazine, Trump himself expressed some skepticism about vaccines while referring to statistics that are unsubstantiated.

“We’re going to have a big discussion,” he told the magazine after being named Person of the Year.

In response to questions about whether he would support Kennedy trying to end childhood vaccinations, Trump said, “The autism rate is at levels no one ever thought possible. If you look at the things that are happening, there is something that is causing this.”

When asked if he believes there is a link between vaccines and autism, the president-elect declined to fully double down on the stakes.

“I want to see the numbers,” he said. “It must be the numbers.” The CDC, at the time of writing, has found no evidence of a link between an increase in autism cases and vaccines given to children.