WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump on Sept 4 threw his support behind his controversial Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, after he was grilled in Congress over decisions to fire scientists and overhaul the nation’s vaccine policies.

“He’s a very good person, and he means very well, and he’s got some little different ideas,” Mr Trump said at a White House dinner with tech industry executives.

The three-hour grilling, which often erupted into shouting matches, came a week after the Trump administration’s ousting of Ms Sue Monarez, director of the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which plunged the nation’s premier public health agency into turmoil.

In his opening remarks, Mr Kennedy tore into the CDC’s actions during the Covid-19 pandemic, accusing it of failing “miserably” with “disastrous and nonsensical” policies including masking guidance, social distancing and school closures.

“We need bold, competent and creative new leadership at CDC, people able and willing to chart a new course,” he said, touting the health department’s new focus on chronic disease.

Ms Monarez, the CDC director whom Mr Kennedy previously endorsed, accused the secretary of a “deliberate effort to weaken America’s public-health system and vaccine protections” in a Wall Street Journal op-ed on Sept 4.

Mr Kennedy’s explanation for her firing – as he told senators during the hearing – was simply: “I asked her: ‘Are you a trustworthy person?’ and she said: ‘No.’”

Ms Monarez’s lawyers said in a statement sent to AFP: “Secretary Kennedy’s claims are false, and at times, patently ridiculous.” They added she would be willing to testify under oath.

Bitter exchanges

Once a respected environmental lawyer, Mr Kennedy emerged in the mid-2000s as a leading anti-vaccine activist, spending two decades spreading voluminous misinformation before being tapped by Mr Trump as Health Secretary.

Since taking office, he has restricted who can receive Covid-19 shots, cut off federal research grants for the mRNA technology credited with saving millions of lives, and announced new research on debunked claims about autism.

Mr Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate Finance Committee leading the hearing, set the tone by demanding Mr Kennedy be sworn in under oath – accusing him of lying in prior testimony when he pledged not to limit vaccine access. The demand was later shot down.

“It is in the country’s best interest that Robert Kennedy step down, and if he doesn’t, Donald Trump should fire him before more people are hurt,” Mr Wyden thundered.

Mr Trump, however, stood by Mr Kennedy, saying at a White House event on Sept 4 that he “did very well today, but it’s not your standard talk... I like the fact that he’s different”.

During the heated hearing, Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell branded Mr Kennedy a “charlatan” over his attacks on mRNA research. Mr Kennedy accused Senator Maggie Hassan of “crazy talk” and “making things up to scare people” when she said parents were already struggling to get Covid-19 vaccines for their children.

Vaccines have become a flashpoint in an ever-deepening partisan battle.

Conservative-leaning Florida on Sept 3 announced it would end all immunisation requirements, including at schools.

A West Coast alliance of California, Washington and Oregon announced they would make their own vaccine recommendation body to counter Mr Kennedy’s influence at the national level.

Republican dissent

Republicans mostly closed ranks around Mr Kennedy, though there was some notable dissent.

Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician whose support was key to Mr Kennedy’s confirmation, criticised his cancellation of mRNA grants. He was joined by fellow Republican doctor Senator John Barrasso and Senator Thom Tillis.

Mr Cassidy pressed Mr Kennedy on whether President Trump deserved a Nobel Prize for Operation Warp Speed, the programme that sped Covid-19 vaccines to market.

Mr Kennedy agreed Mr Trump should have received the prize – but in nearly the same breath, praised hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, drugs championed by conspiracy theorists that have been proven ineffective against Covid-19. AFP

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