A MAGA lawmaker blamed the COVID-19 vaccine for “eroding confidence” among the American public on CNN.
He missed one key detail: It was President Donald Trump who was in office when the COVID vaccine was rolled out.
On CNN’s State of the Union Sunday, Rep. Buddy Carter of Georgia leapt to defend Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, after pundit Kate Bedingfield accused Kennedy of putting children at risk by “advancing theories that are dangerous” and undermining public trust in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Carter insisted it wasn’t Kennedy who caused that distrust—it was the agency itself.
“Eroding confidence in the CDC was the COVID vaccine,” the Georgia Republican said. “The CDC has lost their clout.”
Bedingfield interjected: “But who was president in 2020 when the COVID vaccine was initially implemented?”
Carter offered no response, and the conversation moved on.
President Donald Trump was carrying out his first term during the initial coronavirus outbreak and faced criticism for his slow response.
Before he was rebuked, Carter voiced strong support for failed presidential candidate Kennedy after Bedingfield accused him of harming children.
“When my granddaughters were in Camp Mystic in Texas during the floods, Bobby Kennedy called me from halfway around the world to check on them,” Carter said, referring to the Christian all-girls summer camp hit by catastrophic flash flooding in July. “He cares about children—I can tell you that from personal experience.”
The CDC has come under scrutiny following a bombshell Daily Beast report that revealed the Trump administration plans to pull the COVID vaccine from the U.S. market “within months,” according to a close Kennedy associate.
The Food and Drug Administration approved updated COVID vaccines for the fall season but limited who can receive the jabs. Whereas the shot was previously recommended for most adults and children, the agency only approved the most recent vaccine for people aged 65 and older.
Heated clashes on vaccine policy have continued to trigger a wave of high-profile resignations, including CDC chief medical officer Dr. Debra Houry; director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Dr. Demetre Daskalakis; director of the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases Dr. Daniel Jernigan; and director of the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance and Technology Dr. Jen Layden.
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