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Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) last week called on U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to reject proposals that “weaponize state education funding” and “use it as leverage for anti-vaccination policies.”
At an Aug. 19 press conference in Hartford, Blumenthal criticized proposals he said Kennedy is considering that would penalize Connecticut “for having narrow exemptions to vaccine requirements.”
Blumenthal urged the public to “use vaccines, whether it’s measles, mumps, rubella, diptheria or polio.”
“Vaccines ought to be encouraged,” Blumenthal said. “Education funding should not be held hostage for the anti-vax agenda of a small minority in our population.”
According to News 12 Westchester, Blumenthal also sent Kennedy a letter urging him not to “weaponize” school funding. The Defender was unable to obtain a copy of the letter despite repeated requests to Blumenthal’s office.
However, in an Aug. 13 letter to Kennedy, in response to the recent shooting at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Blumenthal urged Kennedy to immediately remove Dr. Robert W. Malone, a physician-scientist and biochemist known for his early contributions to mRNA vaccine technology, from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP).
Malone was one of eight new members Kennedy appointed to ACIP — which advises the CDC on vaccine policy — in June. Two days earlier, Kennedy dismissed ACIP’s 17 previous members.
In that letter, Blumenthal said Kennedy’s actions “shredded” ACIP’s credibility and demanded that the committee members fired by Kennedy be rehired.
‘I hope people don’t pay attention’
Blumenthal’s Aug. 19 remarks were the latest in a series of mixed messages on vaccines the senator has sent to different constituents.
On July 15, Blumenthal said he hoped nothing would come of a U.S. Senate hearing on vaccine injuries scheduled that day, according to WSHU Public Radio. “I hope people don’t pay attention. Because it isn’t deserving of credibility and attention,” Blumenthal said.
Blumenthal also hosted a call with four “pro-vaccine advocates” before the hearing, WSHU reported.
However, during the July 15 hearing, “Voices of the Vaccine Injured,” Blumenthal said he was “heartbroken” after hearing parents recount how their once-healthy children were injured or killed by vaccines. He said their testimony “makes me want to do something.”
After his remark sparked applause, Blumenthal qualified his statement, saying: “I’m not promising anything. So, you might want to hold your applause.”
Blumenthal also told witnesses at the hearing, “Maybe we ought to look at this system.” He was referring to the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, which established a government-run compensation program for people injured by vaccines while granting legal immunity to vaccine makers.
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) organized the hearing — the second this year to focus on vaccine injuries — with the help of Children’s Health Defense (CHD). CHD Chief Scientific Officer Brian Hooker and Polly Tommey, program director for CHD.TV, both of whom have children injured by vaccines, testified at the hearing.
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‘It is that kind of flip-flopping that leads Americans to distrust legislators’
CHD followed up with Blumenthal after the July 15 hearing to request a follow-up meeting, but Blumenthal’s office has yet to respond.
In its July 28 letter, CHD urged Blumenthal to schedule a meeting “to continue the conversation” that began at the July 15 hearing on topics including vaccine makers’ liability shield, the reform of government-run vaccine injury compensation programs and banning direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising.
CHD CEO Mary Holland, who, along with Hooker and Tommey, signed the July 28 letter, said she’s disappointed that Blumenthal hasn’t followed up on his comments at the July 15 hearing, which she said were “spot on.”
She said:
“Sadly, although CHD has attempted to continue this important dialogue with Sen. Blumenthal and his staff, they have not made themselves available. Indeed, they have reverted to past messaging, trivializing and demonizing those who draw attention to the shattering reality of vaccine injury.
“We hope that Sen. Blumenthal will meet with us at CHD to find common ground regarding public health, individual choice and medical and religious freedom.”
Emily Tarsell, whose 21-year-old daughter Christina died 18 days after receiving her third dose of Merck’s Gardasil HPV vaccine, testified at the July 15 hearing. She told The Defender the difference between Blumenthal’s statements at the hearing and his subsequent actions is “mind-boggling.”
“It is that kind of flip-flopping that leads Americans to distrust legislators who say one thing but do another,” Tarsell said.
Investigative journalist Paul D. Thacker, a former U.S. Senate investigator, said Blumenthal’s current stance contrasts with his previous criticism of pharmaceutical companies during his tenure as Connecticut attorney general between 1990 and 2010.
“When Mr. Blumenthal was attorney general, he aggressively pursued the pharmaceutical industry for the harms they caused Americans. I can only hope he will not deviate from that pathway,” Thacker said.
In 2010, Blumenthal proposed legislation in Connecticut that would have required pharmaceutical companies to disclose all payments they made to doctors.
Also that year, Blumenthal reached a $15 million settlement with pharmaceutical distributor McKesson Corporation for artificially inflating drug costs.
Blumenthal’s office did not respond to a request for comment by press time.
Related articles in The Defender- ‘Maybe We Ought to Look at This System’: Senate Hearing on Vaccine Injuries Sparks Talk of Reforms
- ‘Seismic Shift’: HHS Warns West Virginia May Lose $1.37 Billion in Funding if Health Departments Don’t Allow Religious Exemptions
- ‘This Is Going to Be a Slog’: Senate Hearing on Cover-Up of COVID Vaccine Risks Just the ‘Tip of the Iceberg,’ Johnson Tells Committee
- ‘Right This Wrong’: GRACE Act Would Strip Federal Funding From Schools That Ban Religious Exemptions
- Vaccination Rates Hit Record-Breaking Low for Third Year in a Row as Religious Exemptions Reach Record High
