Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee (HELP), released the following statement in response to her meeting with Dr. David “Dave” Weldon, President Donald Trump’s nominee to be Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and news reports that HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is preparing to remove members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which plays a key role in setting vaccine policy.
“In our meeting today, I pressed Dr. Weldon on his longstanding vaccine skepticism and whether he would make changes to the membership of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel. He said he had no intention of getting rid of anyone. Yet just hours later, there is new reporting that RFK Jr. may upend the advisory committees that make important recommendations on vaccine approvals and coverage—and replace experts with dangerous anti-vaxxers. I have very little confidence that Dr. Weldon will stand up to RFK Jr.—not only has Dr. Weldon spent years promoting the false conspiracy that vaccines cause autism, but he has also criticized the CDC’s essential role in vaccine safety research.
“Additionally, I remain deeply concerned by Dr. Weldon’s history of peddling inflammatory and medically debunked anti-abortion rhetoric and past legislative efforts, which have put the lives and health of countless women in danger.”
Senator Murray further called on Republicans who said they were voting for RFK Jr. despite concerns over his anti-vaccine record to join her in speaking out and demanding RFK Jr. abandon any plans that would undermine vaccine access, like overthrowing the experts on CDC’s advisory committee.
“Let’s not mince words here: the state of public health infrastructure in America is in a deeply precarious state. Thousands of researchers and public health experts have already been culled from the government by Elon Musk and RFK Jr. Now, we are hearing that while communities across the country are in desperate need of steady, science-based leadership to help protect families from measles outbreaks, tuberculosis, and the threat of bird flu—RFK Jr. is plotting to overthrow CDC’s vaccine advisory board. That is as alarming as it gets.
“To every Republican who voted for this man because they believed, in spite of his record, RFK Jr. would not undermine vaccines: now—right now—is the time to speak up and hold RFK Jr. accountable. It is irresponsible to stay silent until after RFK Jr. follows through on this dangerous idea, and vaccines are already undermined. We all know perfectly well what is at stake here—so I desperately hope they will join me in finding the biggest microphone they can and demand RFK Jr. completely abandon any plans that will undermine access to vaccines.”
As a longtime appropriator and former Chair of the Senate HELP Committee, Murray has long fought to boost biomedical research, strengthen public health infrastructure, and make health care more affordable and accessible. Over her years as a senior member of the Appropriations Committee, she has secured billions of dollars in increases for biomedical research at the National Institutes of Health, and during her time as Chair of the HELP Committee she established the new ARPA-H research agency as part of her PREVENT Pandemics Act to advance some of the most cutting-edge research in the field. As Chair of the HELP Committee, Murray was also instrumental in crafting the American Rescue Plan Act, including its landmark investments in public health and health care. Senator Murray was also the lead Democratic negotiator of the bipartisan 21st Century Cures Act, which delivered a major federal investment to boost NIH research, among many other investments. Murray is also the lead sponsor of the Public Health Infrastructure Saves Lives Act (PHISLA), legislation to establish $4.5 billion in dedicated, annual funding for a grant program to build up and maintain the nation’s public health system across the board.
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