Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) seemingly backed a few of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s opinions on sure points of the well being trade, although he nonetheless expressed issues over a few of Kennedy’s different health-related views.
“I think what he’s saying about the food industry is exactly correct. I think you have a food industry concerned about their profits, could care less about the health of the American people. I think they have to be taken on,” Sanders stated throughout a Thursday interview with CBS Information correspondent Natalie Model.
President-elect Trump tapped Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic and environmental lawyer, to steer the Division of Well being and Human Companies (HHS) final month. The nomination despatched shock waves amongst public well being specialists, who fear he might meddle with key authorities businesses, amplify vaccine hesitancy and direct company funding to favor his most well-liked views.
Kennedy brings a deep skepticism of pharmaceutical corporations and the federal businesses overseeing them. The previous impartial presidential candidate beforehand stated federal well being regulators are “sock puppets” held captive by trade particular pursuits. He has promised to purge complete departments on the Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) to eradicate corruption.
Sanders, who holds the highest publish on the Senate Well being, Training, Labor and Pensions Committee, additionally expressed criticisms of Kennedy. Through the CBS Information interview, he known as a few of Kennedy’s solutions, like eradicating fluoride from public water and his views on vaccines, “extremely dangerous.”
Kennedy stated throughout an interview with NBC Information final month that he received’t take away vaccines from folks when Trump takes workplace in January.
“If vaccines are working for somebody, I’m not going to take them away. People ought to have [a] choice, and that choice ought to be informed by the best information,” he stated.
“So I’m going to make sure scientific safety studies and efficacy are out there, and people can make individual assessments about whether that product is going to be good for them,” Kennedy added.
His vow got here after Trump-Vance transition crew co-Chair Howard Lutnick stated in a CNN interview on Oct. 30 that Kennedy needs to conduct research to show vaccines are unsafe and ultimately pull them from the market.
Public well being businesses such because the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) have lengthy maintained that vaccines are secure and efficient, citing outcomes from scientific research and real-world knowledge.
Sanders’s interview adopted a Senate listening to the place he slammed FDA officers for what he described because the nation’s “horrific epidemic” of weight problems and diabetes, in line with CBS Information.
“Do I think the FDA has brought forth the kind of urgency that is needed to address this crisis? No, I don’t. That’s the point I tried to make today,” Sanders stated, as reported by CBS Information.
Sanders’s opinion on Kennedy’s views on public well being observe related feedback he made throughout a latest interview with Enterprise Insider, the place he stated Kennedy was “right” about America’s “unhealthy society.”
“When Kennedy talks about an unhealthy society, he’s right,” Sanders informed Enterprise Insider. “The amount of chronic illness that we have is just extraordinary.”
Sanders had additionally talked about he thinks Kennedy’s anti-vaccine stance is “kind of crazy” and a conspiracy idea, however total, “some of what he’s saying is not crazy.”
