RFK Jr.'s Senate confirmation hearing for Trump's Health and Human Services Secretary took a personal turn Thursday when Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) challenged him on his track record of spreading vaccine misinformation.
Hassan, whose son has cerebral palsy, discussed the consequences of his rhetoric on mothers like herself, who anguish over vaccine uncertainties, including a retracted study that correlated vaccines to autism.
"Like every mother, I worried about whether, in fact, the vaccine had done something to my son," she said. "It was a tiny study of about 12 kids, and over time, the scientific community studied and studied and studied and found that it was wrong, and the journal retracted the study."
MUST-WATCH: Senator Maggie Hassan just broke down in tears at the RFK Jr. hearing when she opened up about her 36-year-old son, who has severe cerebral palsy (CP).
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RFK has previously speculated vaccines as a cause of increasing autism rates despite the CDC and WHO debunking such claims.
"The problem with this witness's response on the autism cause and the relationship to vaccines is because he's relitigating and churning settled science so we can't go forward," Hassan asserted. "When you continue to sow doubt about settled science, it makes it impossible for us to move forward."
Kennedy's views have been controversial even within his own family. His cousin, former US Ambassador Caroline Kennedy, took to Instagram to call him a "predator."
"Overseeing the FDA, the NIH, the CDC, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, agencies that are charged with protecting the most vulnerable among us, is an enormous deal," Caroline said Tuesday. "Now that Bobby has been nominated by President Trump... I feel an obligation to speak out."
Most Republicans are expected to back RFK. The Senate Finance Committee will ultimately decide whether Kennedy's nomination proceeds to a full floor vote.
"Sometimes science is wrong. We make progress. We build on the work and we become more successful," Hassan concluded. "When you continue to sow doubt about settled science, it makes it impossible for us to move forward... and it freezes us in place."
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