Exactly one year ago this week, when there was still some question as to whether Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would become the nation’s next health secretary, The New York Times published an unsettling report about one of the nominee’s associates. The Times, among a variety of other outlets, reported that RFK Jr. was choosing federal health officials for the incoming administration with the help of a lawyer named Aaron Siri.
For much of the public, that name probably seemed unfamiliar, but for those who follow anti-vaccine efforts, the news was immediately recognized as important: It was Siri, for example, who petitioned the government to revoke its approval of the polio vaccine.
The Times’ report added, “Mr. Siri has also filed a petition seeking to pause the distribution of 13 other vaccines; challenged, and in some cases quashed, Covid vaccine mandates around the country; sued federal agencies for the disclosure of records related to vaccine approvals; and subjected prominent vaccine scientists to grueling videotaped depositions.”
Then-Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a polio survivor, was not pleased. “Anyone seeking the Senate’s consent to serve in the incoming Administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts,” the Kentucky Republican said.
Kennedy ignored the advice. Indeed, after the longtime anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist took the reins at the Department of Health and Human Services, Siri’s name popped up quite a bit. In September, for example, after Susan Monarez was fired as the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, she testified before a Senate committee and spoke about RFK Jr. urging her to meet with Siri. A month later, the Times reported that Siri “has played a role in vetting candidates for departmental jobs.”
Last week, the problem went from bad to worse. NBC News reported:
An anti-vaccine lawyer who has regularly sued federal and state health agencies spoke Friday at a meeting of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory panel — an unheard-of departure for the committee, which for decades was a trusted source for vaccine recommendations.
After Siri’s lengthy anti-vaccine presentation before the CDC’s once-respected Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (better known as ACIP), MS NOW’s Brandy Zadrozny wrote online, “This panel is anti-vaccine theater. It’s a cruel joke.”
This was not an uncommon reaction. The Washington Post reported that public health advocates were “shocked” to see the CDC giving Siri such a platform, adding, “The unusual scene of an attorney with no medical degree making a scientific presentation drew condemnation from health organizations and lawmakers.” Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a former medical doctor who chairs the Senate committee that oversees HHS, wrote online the day before Friday’s meeting, “Aaron Siri is a trial attorney who makes his living suing vaccine manufacturers. He is presenting as if an expert on childhood vaccines. The ACIP is totally discredited. They are not protecting children.” Nevertheless, despite the circumstances, Siri’s side is winning: On Friday, ACIP, stocked with Kennedy loyalists, voted to stop recommending a life-saving hepatitis B vaccine to infants. Cassidy described the regressive and radical step as a “mistake” — though as is too often the case, the powerful senator declined to respond with anything meaningful.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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