RFK Jr.’s lawyer blasts ‘hysterical’ media report as misrepresentation of HHS pick’s views on vaccines

Advising attorney Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The New York Times is criticizing a report last week alleging that Trump’s HHS secretary nominee is trying to overturn the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval for the polio vaccine.

Aaron Siri, a close adviser to RFK Jr. and a partner at Siri & Glimstad LLP, told Fox News: “Contrary to the hysterical media coverage of the petition to make sure there are no polio vaccines, the scope of the petition was quite narrow.” Digital. “Just asked the FDA to require appropriate testing for the new polio vaccine to be licensed for children.”

The New York Times reported on Friday Siri is “waging war” against all vaccines, but Siri said the report “falsely claims the petition is trying to eliminate the polio vaccine,” “as if there is only one,” and that our client tried to leave Americans without a choice. Get vaccinated against polio.”

RFK JR set to face abortion, vaccine scrutiny in sit-down with senators on Capitol Hill.

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy’s endorsement of former President Donald Trump has sparked an intense backlash from the mainstream media. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)

“Essentially, the petition sought to ensure the safety of one of the six currently licensed polio vaccines that we administer to our children three times before their first birthday,” he said.

The report came days before RFK Jr.’s departure Capitol Hill to meet with senators seeking support for HHS approval this week.

In 2022, a petition filed by Siri, not individually, but on behalf of the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN), urged the FDA to stop the polio vaccine IPOL for infants and children. ICAN’s request stems from concerns over the approval of IPOL, which was licensed by Sanofi in 1990, based on pediatric trials. FDAevaluated safety only three days after injection.

Siri added that it is not the traditional polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk or Albert Sabin. Instead, it is a product that uses a different technology in which the polio virus is grown in monkey kidney cells that have been genetically modified to reproduce indefinitely, similar to cancer cells. Traces of these cells are present in every dose of the vaccine.

BIDEN CLEMENTS ANNOUNCEMENT RECEIVES MIXED COMPLAINTS ON CAPITOL HILL: ‘WHERE’S THE BAR?’

Nurse Lydia Fulton prepares to administer the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, which is used to prevent diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus and polio, Friday, April 28, at the Children’s Primary Care Clinic in Minneapolis, Minn. , 2017. (For Courtney Perry/The Washington Post)

Another petition filed on behalf of ICAN in 2021 related to 13 childhood vaccines containing aluminum adjuvants. According to the petition, a peer-reviewed study found discrepancies between the aluminum levels in these vaccines and the amounts listed on their FDA-approved labels. The petition calls on the FDA to review and make public the documents proving the accuracy of the aluminum content, or halt distribution until it is resolved — which critics say should not be controversial for products that are injected into infants.

“Currently, political labeling (anti-vaccination, anti-vaccination) is inadequate to encompass the realities of medical ethics, regulatory capture, and the influence of corporate money on health policy,” Siri said. “We should be able to raise valid questions about vaccine safety, efficacy and policy without fear that any deviation from the ‘safe and effective’ mantra will be smeared with epithets and outrage.”

JILL BIDEN Tells Reporter: ‘Of course I support pardoning my son’

U.S. Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, listens as President Donald Trump speaks during a hearing on youth vaping in the Cabinet Room of the White House on Nov. 22, 2019, in Washington. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)

After the mass media spread information about Siri’s petition, both Trump and RFK Jr. said they supported the polio vaccine without specifying which one. RFK Jr., in interviews during the 2024 presidential campaign as part of his Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) slogan, expressed skepticism about some vaccines and support for others.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

“Mr. Kennedy believes that the polio vaccine should be available to the public, thoroughly and properly studied,” Kennedy’s transition spokeswoman Katie Miller said in response.

Trump, meanwhile, said Monday morning during a Mar-a-Lago news conference that “everything needs to be looked at” and that he is a “big believer in the polio vaccine.”

Fox News Digital reached out to The New York Times for comment, but did not immediately receive a response.