The attorney assisting Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in choosing federal health officials for the forthcoming Trump administration, Aaron Siri, has a track record of legal battles against the very government agencies that the cabinet nominee is set to supervise.
Notably, Siri recently contested the federal approval of polio vaccines.
Siri, who acted as a legal counsel for Kennedy Jr.'s campaign, petitioned the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2022 to revoke its approval of the polio vaccine. This was part of his work with the Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN), as reported by The New York Times. Through his legal endeavors for ICAN and other entities, Siri has lodged over a dozen lawsuits aimed at halting vaccine distribution and has even contributed to the removal of some COVID-19 vaccine mandates.
President-elect Donald Trump has previously shown no inclination towards retracting polio immunizations. However, recent interviews reveal that he is considering the recall of certain vaccines for children. ICAN, founded by Del Bigtree, who also served as RFK Jr.'s campaign spokesman, presents itself as a "medical freedom" group committed to "holding regulators accountable" and "eradicating man-made disease."
ICAN's website proudly states, "Using an unprecedented legal strategy, ICAN has successfully won lawsuits against Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control, the National Institutes of Health, and the Food and Drug Administration." These include the primary agency that Kennedy Jr. would supervise, along with several subagencies.
Siri has spearheaded several ICAN petitions against the FDA, seeking to withdraw or suspend approvals for vaccines like hepatitis B and to halt the distribution of at least 13 other vaccines containing aluminum, which some studies have linked to asthma. However, Siri clarified to The Times that these petitions were filed solely on behalf of his clients, and he does not advocate for barring Americans from receiving vaccinations.
Kennedy Jr., too, has maintained that he does not aim to stop immunizations, despite his assertion that none of the 72 vaccines on the current US schedule "have ever been tested against a placebo." He cites his previous legal work as evidence of this claim. Kennedy Jr. is the founder and board chairman of Children's Health Defense, an organization that has opposed the widespread use of vaccines for children and has associated them with medical conditions such as autism.
Kennedy Jr.'s spokeswoman, Katie Miller, stated to The New York Times, "Mr. Kennedy has long said that he wants transparency in vaccines and to give people choice."
Trump, who surprisingly received an endorsement from Kennedy Jr. for his 2024 campaign, has shown a willingness to consider the latter's views on childhood vaccine policy as the incoming Health and Human Services secretary. In his 2024 "Person of the Year" interview with Time magazine, Trump stated, "The autism rate is at a level that nobody ever believed possible. If you look at things that are happening, there's something causing it."
Trump suggested that this "something" could lead to the elimination of some vaccinations if deemed "dangerous." He expressed his desire to see the data and conduct "very serious testing." He assured that the results of these studies would definitively reveal what is beneficial and what is not.
However, in an earlier interview with NBC News, Trump expressed skepticism about the withdrawal of polio vaccines. He stated, "If someone told me get rid of the polio vaccine, they're going to have to work really hard to convince me."
Republican senators, who have the power to allow Kennedy Jr. to "go wild" in the food and health regulatory agencies, as Trump put it, have yet to express their views on his nomination. Only four Republicans joining with every Democrat and independent would be required to derail the confirmation.
Kennedy's spokesperson, Siri, and the Trump transition team did not immediately respond to inquiries from The New York Post.
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