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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsNYT: McConnell Defends Polio Vaccine, an Apparent Warning to Kennedy
Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed theyre dangerous, said the former Republican leader, who is a polio survivor.
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
Dec. 13, 2024
Updated 6:12 p.m. ET
Senator Mitch McConnell, the former Republican leader and a survivor of polio, issued a pointed statement in support of the polio vaccine on Friday, hours after The New York Times reported that the lawyer for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has petitioned federal regulators to withdraw the vaccine from the market.
Without naming Mr. Kennedy, Mr. McConnell suggested that the petition could jeopardize his confirmation to be health secretary in the incoming Trump administration.
Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed theyre dangerous, he said. Anyone seeking the Senates consent to serve in the incoming administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts.
Mr. Kennedy has said he does not want to take away anyones vaccines. His lawyer, Aaron Siri, filed the petition in 2022 on behalf of the Informed Consent Action Network, a nonprofit run by Mr. Kennedys former communications director. Mr. Siri is advising Mr. Kennedy as he vets candidates for the Department of Health and Human Services.
Mr. McConnell, 82, contracted polio as a child, more than a decade before the vaccine became widely available. When his left leg was paralyzed, his mother took him for treatment in Warm Springs, Ga., at the same treatment center frequented by another famous polio survivor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt.
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Meowmee
(6,467 posts)Also had polio and had some long lasting effects.
Hekate
(95,568 posts)Meowmee
(6,467 posts)She was actually impaled by a metal bar, and it was a miracle she survived. But it had a terrible effect on her health with many surgeries and such and eventually it led to an early death. She also still did have some effects in one of her legs from polio.
Hekate
(95,568 posts)
over America and Americans.
My wish for him is a lingering space of time where he gets to watch what he personally had a major hand in making come to pass.
It took him 82 years to grow a pair...and it's far too late now Mitch.
albacore
(2,646 posts)nt
groundloop
(12,424 posts)I'm horribly saddened by what tRUMP has done to this country.
When we elected Barack Obama I was so proud of the USA, and felt like we were very much on the path to realizing our potential as a great nation. The election, not once but twice, of a racist, lying, vengeful, rapist criminal has ripped those thoughts from me.
albacore
(2,646 posts)LetMyPeopleVote
(156,236 posts)Back in the late 1950s, my sister had polio. She was on crutches for a while but recovered. I still remember taking the polio vaccine. There is no question in my mind that we need this vaccine
Link to tweet
he will still vote to confirm him, though.
Smh
DFW
(56,972 posts)If he votes to confirm, despite this, he's Moscow Mitch McTrash, because his vote endangers a generation of American children, including two of my grandchildren. I'm glad the other two are beyond the reach of any such temporary American insanity. They are American citizens, but they are also German citizens, and Germany has had enough madness in the last 100 years to allow anyone this crazy to get anywhere near the Health Ministry.
dchill
(40,888 posts)Congratulations, Mitch. Something finally hit home, eh?