The New York Post has issued a stark warning to President Trump about the political risk posed by the “anti-vax agenda” of his health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The editorial board of the Rupert Murdoch-owned tabloid published the scathing piece Sunday in the wake of Kennedy’s decision to fire every member of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the federal panel that makes recommendations about vaccines. Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, claimed his decision aimed to prioritize “the restoration of public trust above any specific pro- or anti-vaccine agenda.”
Kennedy’s move—which was also criticized by Murdoch’s Wall Street Journal—and one of his choices to become a new member of ACIP prompted the Post to conclude: “The White House needs to keep Kennedy on a short leash, lest he alienate rational Republicans and give Democrats ammunition for undermining the entire Trump agenda.”
Challenging Kennedy’s remarks that the health department will now prioritize “public trust above any specific pro- or anti-vaccine agenda,” the editorial board said ACIP whole purpose is to be pro-vaccine, pointing out that “the jabs overall are objectively a life-saving public good.”
“Just ask the victims of the current measles outbreak, which anti-vax propaganda has made worse,” the Post said in its editorial, which ran online with the headline: “RFK’s anti-vax agenda endangers the entire Trump reform drive.”
The paper also said that while seven of the eight new ACIP members appointed by Kennedy “look to be solid scientists,” it noted that “at least one pick raises serious alarm bells.”
“Vicky Pebsworth served on the board of the National Vaccine Information Center, an anti-vax outfit that fearmongers about ‘vaccine injuries and deaths,’” the Post wrote.
Pebsworth’s appointment in particular shows Kennedy “still has at least one foot in the anti-vax conspiracy-theory camp,” writes the Post, claiming that more appointments in a similar vein will prove “that all who opposed [Kennedy’s] confirmation were right.”
Another editorial posted from the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board last week excoriated Kennedy for his overhaul of the vaccine panel, writing: “Mr. Kennedy’s beef seems to be that the committee’s members know something about vaccines and may have been involved in their research and development.”
Since his confirmation as health secretary in February, Kennedy has repeatedly doubled down on anti-vax rhetoric and spread conspiracy theories, including that vaccines contain “aborted fetus debris.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the HHS for comment.
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