Did RFK Jr.’s ally try to revoke the polio vaccine?

In the 1960s, the Kennedy name evoked American grandeur. John F. Kennedy inspired a generation and pushed the limits of what we could do as a country. Fast forward to now, and the Kennedy name is mostly associated with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his seeming hatred of anything vaccine related. But did he ask the U.S. government to revoke the polio vaccine?

While he’s been trying to distance himself from it lately, RFK Jr. is known as a vaccine skeptic. This on its own isn’t a huge deal, but when you’re President-elect Donald J. Trump’s pick for health secretary, it tends to rise to the top of people’s minds. The idea that someone against vaccines might be the head of the government’s health apparatus has given people pause, and with good reason.

Now we’re finding out that in 2022, an RFK Jr. associate even petitioned the Food and Drug administration to pull back its approval of the polio vaccine. He is not, by the way, a medical doctor of any kind. The request was filed by a lawyer named Aaron Siri, who’s actually filed dozens of these requests for private citizens.

Siri is currently helping RFK Jr. pick government health officials, and he works for a firm that says it has more than 60 years of vaccine injury experience. The firm also boasts that it wins 9 out of ten vaccine exemption cases. A lot of Siri’s work has been for a nonprofit called the Informed Consent Action Network, which is closely associated with RFK Jr.

In addition to asking for the removal of the polio vaccine, he’s also asked that the government “pause distribution” on vaccines that treat ailments like hepatitis B, tetanus, and diphtheria.

The truth is that vaccines go through a mountain of tests before they are approved. Before the vaccine, polio was one of the scariest diseases in the world. It would kill thousands of children yearly, and paralyze thousands more. There are reports that the disease dates back to 1580 BC.

RFK Jr. has spoken to Trump about vaccines, and in an interview, Trump promised to perform “very serious testing” and said he would get rid of vaccines “if I think it’s dangerous, if I think they are not beneficial.” However, he has come out in support of the polio vaccine specifically.

“The polio vaccine is the greatest thing,” he said. “If someone told me get rid of the polio vaccine, they’re going to have to work really hard to convince me.”

Siri’s petition to the F.D.A. asked that the vaccine be paused on infants and toddlers “until a properly controlled and properly powered double-blind trial of sufficient duration is conducted.”

The argument he presented is that the studies cited in 1990 by the F.D.A. don’t take into account the vaccine’s safety in the long term. Children typically get the first dose of four doses when they are two months old. Again, this vaccine has been used since 1955.

How this all plays out remains to be seen. RFK Jr. still needs to be confirmed by Congress before he takes up the new role, and despite a majority Republican congress, it’s still not a guarantee. Regardless, Siri did indeed ask the government to withdraw the polio vaccine, and because we live in a nightmare, of course he should be working for the potential future health secretary.