Trump Administration Should ‘Stay Away’ from Polio Vax Skeptics

Outgoing Senate Minority Leader and polio survivor Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Friday issued a stern warning to incoming members of President-elect Donald Trump’s administration who might try to do the same. Cancel federal approval of polio vaccine,

McConnell did not mention Secretary of Health and Human Services-nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr., by name — but his statement on “dangerous” efforts to roll back vaccinations against the viral disease was clearly aimed at the scion of a Democratic political dynasty.

“The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives and fulfilled the promise of eradicating a terrible disease. Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven treatments are not only uninformed — but dangerous, McConnell said.

“Anyone seeking Senate consent to serve in the incoming administration would do well to avoid even the appearance of association with such efforts,” the senator warned.

McConnell’s statement comes after The New York Times reported that Aaron Siri — a lawyer who worked on Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign and is helping him select federal health officials for the incoming administration — has filed a lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration. A petition was filed to get rid of its approval from the administration. Polio vaccine in 2022.

Siri has also filed more than a dozen lawsuits to stop vaccine distribution and helped eliminate some mandates for COVID-19 jabs. Shop,

The lawyer told the Times that the petitions were filed on behalf of his clients and claimed he did not want Americans to be prevented from getting vaccinated.

A spokesperson for Kennedy Jr. said Trump’s HHS pick “has long said he wants transparency in vaccines and wants to give people choices.”

McConnell, who is leaving next year as the top Republican in the Senate, had polio at the age of two and the disease resulted in paralysis in his upper left leg.

The senator’s statement continued, “Like millions of families before them, my parents knew the pain and fear of watching their child struggle with a life-changing diagnosis of polio.” “From the age of two, a normal life without paralysis was possible for me only because of the miraculous combination of modern medicine and mother’s love.”

McConnell said, “But the real miracle for the millions who came after me was the saving power of the polio vaccine.”

“I have never hesitated to confront specific misinformation that jeopardizes the progress of life-saving medical advances, and I will not hesitate today.”

Kennedy Jr. is expected to meet with senators on Capitol Hill next week as part of his effort to win confirmation for the HHS post.

It would take only four Republicans joining every Democrat and independent to confirm him.