RFK Jr.’s Lawyer Tried to Get the Polio Vaccine’s FDA Approval Revoked
An adviser and lawyer helping Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vet potential agency officials has filed over a dozen lawsuits challenging the availability of common vaccines — including the polio vaccine.
According to a Friday report from The New York Times, Aaron Siri, an attorney who represented Kennedy during his campaign, has spent much of his career filing legal challenges against vaccines on behalf of the Informed Consent Action Network, an anti-vaccine group founded by Del Bigtree, a notorious vaccine conspiracy theorist and close Kennedy ally.
Siri’s work includes a 2022 challenge asking officials at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — an agency Kennedy would gain oversight of if confirmed as HHS secretary — to revoke their authorization of the polio vaccine. Siri has also challenged the availability of the hepatitis B, ??tetanus, Covid-19, and diphtheria vaccines, and has also subjected vaccine researchers and doctors to lengthy depositions on their work.
Siri’s representatives note: “Even if the requested relief in the polio petition at issue is granted by the FDA, adults and children in the United States can still receive polio vaccines because the petition concerned only the license of one of six polio-containing vaccines and only as to its licensure for children. There are and still would be five other licensed polio vaccines for children that are available for those who choose to get it.”
Siri’s petition to the FDA makes clear that the polio vaccine he wants the agency to revoke its approval of is the “only standalone vaccine for poliomyelitis used in the United States.”
Sources told the Times that Kennedy has not only considered Siri for a role within his prospective agency, but has involved him in efforts to vet prospective underlings. Those who observed Kennedy and Siri’s interviews say the pair have questioned candidates about their views on vaccines.
Last year RFK Jr. claimed that he would not take away access to vaccines from Americans who want them, but Siri’s close involvement in the candidate selection process — and past work attempting to strip vaccines of government approval — are a sign Kennedy may not have been totally honest while campaigning. Shocking.
President-elect Donald Trump is also suggesting his administration may revoke vaccine authorizations on Kennedy’s advice. In a Thursday interview with Time magazine, Trump said he would discuss ending childhood vaccination programs with Kenendy — citing high rates of autism in a reference to the conspiracy theory linking vaccinations to the neurodevelopmental disorder.
When asked directly if he would get rid of some vaccines, Trump replied that he “could if I think it’s dangerous, if I think they are not beneficial, but I don’t think it’s going to be very controversial in the end.”
However, during this week’s appearance on Meet the Press, Trump carved out a negotiable caveat for the polio vaccine. “The polio vaccine is the greatest thing,” he said. “If someone told me ‘get rid of the polio vaccine,’ they’re going to have to work really hard to convince me.”
It’s not only Kennedy who is raising alarm bells among medical experts. The president-elect’s selection of high-level health officials features a cadre of conspiracy theorists, including NIH nominee Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, a Stanford health economist who drew controversy over his pandemic-era proposal to simply allow herd immunity to develop through widespread infection. Trump has also nominated Janette Nesheiwat, best known for her work as a Fox News talking head, to serve as surgeon general, and TV snake oil salesman Dr. Mehmet Oz for a position as administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
In this environment, Siri and Kennedy’s plans to challenge the approval and availability of vaccines could meet few roadblocks.
Dr. Stanley Plotkin, the inventor of the rubella vaccine who was once subjected to a nine-hour deposition in a lawsuit brought by Siri, told the Times that putting the anti-vaccine lawyer in a position of power “would be a disaster.”
“I find him laughable in many ways — except, of course, that he’s a danger to public health,” he said.
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