Mitch McConnell, A Polio Survivor, Slams RFK Jr.'s Confirmation

Former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), the only Republican senator to oppose Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation as health secretary, slammed the anti-vaccine activist as a “peddler of dangerous conspiracy theories” after Thursday’s vote.

“I’m a survivor of childhood polio. In my lifetime, I’ve watched vaccines save millions of lives from devastating diseases across America and around the world,” said McConnell, who’s predicted to end his political career when his term ends next year.

“I will not condone the re-litigation of proven cures, and neither will millions of Americans who credit their survival and quality of life to scientific miracles,” he continued.

Kennedy, now secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, is notorious for spreading anti-vaccine propaganda, dismissing the abundance of science proving the safety and efficacy of immunization and repeatedly propping up the myth that vaccines cause autism.

In his remarks Thursday, McConnell dismissed Kennedy’s characterization of himself as someone who’s simply asking questions and advocating for more research.

“Individuals, parents, and families have a right to push for a healthier nation and demand the best possible scientific guidance on preventing and treating illness,” the Kentucky senator said. “But a record of trafficking in dangerous conspiracy theories and eroding trust in public health institutions does not entitle Mr. Kennedy to lead these important efforts.”

In his new role, Kennedy will have multipleavenues to rein in vaccine access and uptake, including by revising government vaccine advisories, requiring additional post-market studies on vaccines, sowing public distrust in immunization overall and weakening legal protections for vaccine makers.

McConnell — who contracted polio at two years old and credits the vaccine with saving him from a disease that once killed or paralyzed over half a million people each year — spoke out against Kennedy as a nominee shortly after a media investigation in December found that a lawyer helping Kennedy select top health officials for the new Trump administration had petitioned the federal government to revoke its approval of the polio vaccine for children.

The lawyer, Aaron Siri, may be up for a prominent job in Kennedy’s HHS, The New York Times reported late last year.

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