RFK Jr 'tried to stop COVID vaccine rollout just six months after it began'

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. allegedly attempted to halt the rollout of the COVID-19 vaccine six months aft it began. 

The lad of the erstwhile United States Attorney General and Donald Trump's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services has faced backlash implicit his views connected vaccines successful general.

He has insisted that helium is not needfully anti-vaccine and does enactment the jab for the polio virus. 

However, probe into RFK Jr.'s past has unearthed a petition helium filed with the Food and Drug Administration to halt authorizing the shots and not o.k. immoderate caller ones.

In May 2021, erstwhile helium filed the petition, the New York Times says the jab is estimated to person already saved astir 140,000 lives. 

However, Kennedy - whose nonprofit Children's Health Defense filed the petition - claimed the benefits of the vaccine were not worthy the wellness risks and that reasonably bully treatments similar ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine were available. 

Trials person shown that ivermectin does thing to prevent Covid patients from getting ill, portion implicit 100 Americans died of the microorganism contempt taking hydroxychloroquine in 2020 alone. 

Dr. Robert Califf, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, called the petition a 'massive error.' 

Several different members of the nationalist wellness constitution agreed and the FDA rejected his petition wrong months. 

Kennedy - whose confirmation hearings person yet to beryllium scheduled - has not responded to requests for comment.   

In November, helium appeared to pivot connected the COVID jab, telling NBC: 'I wouldn't person straight blocked it. I would person made definite that we had the champion science, and determination was nary effort to bash that astatine that time.' 

Trump has had a analyzable narration with the programme to administer the jabs, 'Operation Warpspeed,' which helium has tried to instrumentality recognition for amid reticence from immoderate of his base.

In 2021, helium claimed the satellite could person seen 100 cardinal deaths from COVID-19 if his medication hadn't developed the vaccine. 

However, helium has hired Kennedy to tally the nation's wellness which suggests a pivot from his erstwhile brags astir the vaccine. 

Trump appears to beryllium backing Kennedy and said past month: 'I deliberation he's going to beryllium overmuch little extremist than you would think. I deliberation he's got a precise unfastened mind, oregon I wouldn't person enactment him there.'

But a caller communicative astir Kennedy's apical advisor, Aaron Siri, pushing to revoke the polio vaccine's support appears to present beryllium imperiling his information among Republicans.

Following a New York Times story highlighting Siri's efforts and Kennedy's past remarks connected vaccines - galore of them not affirmative - longtime Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, a polio survivor, released a connection ridiculing anyone attempting to degrade the treatment.

Now the HHS nominee is making definite radical cognize wherever helium stands. 

'I'm each for the polio vaccine,' the 70-year-old said erstwhile arriving astatine the Capitol analyzable for meetings with senators connected Monday. 

It was his archetypal clip appearing connected the elevation since being nominated by Trump, and different than his vaccine remark, Kennedy did not accidental thing other oregon instrumentality immoderate further questions.

Last week pursuing the communicative astir Siri, the 82-year-old McConnell used his idiosyncratic acquisition to teardrop into Trump's preferred wellness secretary.

'Efforts to undermine nationalist assurance successful proven cures are not conscionable uninformed - they're dangerous,' McConnell said of the bid from Kennedy's advisor, portion not singling retired Kennedy by name.

'Anyone seeking the Senate's consent to service successful the incoming medication would bash good to steer wide of adjacent the quality of relation with specified efforts.'

'The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives and held retired the committedness of eradicating a unspeakable disease,' McConnell wrote. 

As a toddler successful 1944, McConnell's precocious near limb was paralyzed by the disease. However, attraction disposable astatine the clip apt saved him from being disabled for the remainder of his life.

About a decennary later, the archetypal palmy vaccine was developed by U.S. doc Jonas Salk. The illness is present commonly considered extinct successful the U.S. due to the fact that of the vaccine.

'Mr. Kennedy believes the Polio Vaccine should beryllium disposable to the nationalist and thoroughly and decently studied,' a Kennedy spokesperson said successful effect to McConnell.

Kennedy has drawn connections betwixt vaccines and rising rates of autism, thing Trump himself mentioned astatine a property league connected Monday, seemingly defending his nominee's stance connected the matter. 

'If you look astatine autism, truthful 30 years agone we had I heard numbers similar 1 successful 200,000, 1 successful 100,000. Now I'm proceeding numbers similar 1 successful 100. So something's wrong,' Trump said. 

While wellness professionals accidental determination is not a wide enactment betwixt the two, autism cases person been ticking up dramatically successful caller years. Tough the uptick successful cases, immoderate aesculapian professionals say, should beryllium attributed to clearer diagnosing criteria.

One successful 36 oregon truthful U.S. children is diagnosed with autism today, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 

However, successful 2000 that fig was person to 1 successful 150, CDC information shows. 

'There's thing wrong,' Trump continued. 'And we're going to find retired astir it.'