AT NYT Sheryl Gay Stolberg reports on RFK Jr's testimony before the Senate Finance Committee:
Kennedy claimed that Black boys who receive the measles, mumps, rubella vaccine have a higher risk of autism. This claim, which has never been verified, stems from a decade-old controversy around the so-called C.D.C. whistleblower, an agency scientist named William Thompson.
He said in 2014 that the C.D.C. had published a study that omitted evidence of the increased risk. Thompson made his assertion in tape-recorded conversations with Brian Hooker, a biochemical engineer who has a son with autism and is now chief scientific officer at Children’s Health Defense, the group Kennedy founded to question vaccine safety. Hooker published his own study reanalyzing the C.D.C. data, but his study was retracted amid concerns over the validity of his methods.
Apoorva Mandavilli at NYT:
Senators have repeatedly read Kennedy’s words from previous hearings back to him, noting that he had promised not to take anyone’s vaccines away, and that he would empower agency scientists to do their work. Several contend that he has done neither. Senator Tina Smith, Democrat of Minnesota, said Kennedy had made contradictory statements depending on his circumstances.
“When were you lying, sir?” she said. “When you told this committee that you were not anti-vax? Or when you told Americans that there’s no safe and effective vaccine?”
Kennedy replied, “Both things are true.”
NARRATOR: ACTUALLY, NEITHER THING IS TRUE.
