Robert Redfield, former director of the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) below the primary Trump administration, gave a vote of confidence to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as potential head of the Division of Well being and Human Companies (HHS).
NewsNation’s Brian Entin requested Redfield on Sunday whether or not there ought to be considerations that Kennedy, a widely known opponent of vaccines, will introduce a “no-vaccine tradition” into public coverage.
“No Brian, I do not assume that. I imply, I am in all probability one of many largest advocates for vaccines. You talked about that — I, once I was CDC director, I might say that I believe vaccines are the best present of science to trendy medication and I nonetheless consider that,” Redfield mentioned.
“Kennedy just isn’t antivaccine. What Kennedy is about is transparency about vaccines, sincere dialogue about vaccines, asking for the info to point out that these vaccines are secure and so they’re efficacious.”
Redfield served as CDC director from 2018 to 2021.
Since a minimum of 2005, Kennedy has been some of the well-known vaccine skeptics and opponents, pushing the declare that vaccines are linked to autism regardless of an absence of scientific knowledge to corroborate these claims.
The Middle for Countering Digital Hate named Kennedy among the many prime 12 spreaders of on-line antivaccine content material.
In 2021, Kennedy described the COVID-19 vaccine because the “deadliest vaccine ever made,” citing knowledge from the Vaccine Hostile Occasion Reporting System (VAERS). VAERS, established within the Nineteen Eighties, is run by each the CDC and the Meals and Drug Administration. The system permits anyone to report any results noticed following vaccines, however these studies should not verified earlier than being entered into VAERS.
NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which additionally owns The Hill.
