McConnell defends polio vaccine after report RFK Jr. adviser sought to revoke approval

WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a polio survivor, responded Friday critically to a report in The New York Times that a key lawyer and longtime adviser to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. once petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to revoke approval of the polio vaccine.

Kennedy, who is President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, has been a longtime critic of childhood vaccines and has unfoundedly linked widespread vaccine use to the rise in childhood autism.

McConnell, who still deals with the effects of the disease as a child, said the vaccine has saved lives and any attempt to stand in the way of its availability would be a serious mistake.

“The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives and delivered on the promise of eradicating a terrible disease,” McConnell said in a statement to NBC News. “Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures aren’t just uninformed—they’re dangerous.”

According to the Times, Aaron Siri is currently an adviser to Kennedy, working to identify candidates to serve in federal health posts. Siri filed the petition in 2022 while representing the Informed Consent Action Network. The anti-vaccine organization is closely aligned with Kennedy.

A Kennedy spokeswoman confirmed to The New York Times that Siri advises Kennedy, but that the two men had not discussed his application to revoke approval of the polio vaccine.

In response to The New York Times story, Katie Miller, a spokeswoman for RFK Jr, told NBC News in a statement: “The polio vaccine should be available to the public and thoroughly and properly studied.”

Siri referred NBC News to his X account for two statements responding to the article, which he said “begins (and ends) defending a particular polio vaccine, IPOL, which is not the polio vaccine of old, while playing on fears of to distract from the clear security holes in licensing this particular product.”

“The NYT reporters writing the hit piece clearly do not care about truth and accuracy,” Siri wrote in part in a long X posts points to several government reports that he says defend his position.

In his statement, McConnell makes it clear that he will fight to protect access to the polio vaccine.

“I have never shied away from confronting specific disinformation that threatens the progress of life-saving medical advances, and I will not today.”

Despite his active campaign against vaccines, Kennedy said in an interview with NBC News before he was announced as Trump’s pick for HHS that he would not try to “take away anybody’s vaccines.”

But he went on to say he planned to scrutinize the way the life-saving drugs are brought to market.

“If vaccines work for somebody, I’m not going to take them away. People should have a choice, and that choice should be informed by the best information,” he said. people can make individual judgments about whether that product will be good for them.”

In his statement, McConnell never mentions Kennedy by name, but says that anyone seeking Senate confirmation must be specific about their intentions related to the polio vaccine.

“Anyone seeking Senate consent to serve in the incoming administration would do well to avoid even apparent association with such efforts,” McConnell wrote.

Kennedy is expected on Capitol Hill next week for meetings with senators.

McConnell will give up his post as the top Republican in the Senate in January, but remains an influential leader in the chamber. Overcoming opposition can be difficult for a nominee.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com