ATLANTA — Sen. Raphael Warnock called for the immediate firing of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the Department of Health and Human Services secretary on Sunday.
In a social media post, the Georgia Democrat said of Kennedy, "Secretary Kennedy has spent his time in office spreading doubt about vaccines. Now measles is back. He is a threat to our health and must be fired immediately."
Kennedy earlier this year cast doubt on the measles vaccine, instead touting treatments that are unproven. He has said he wants the government to follow “gold standard” science.
This week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention altered its website to dispute the conclusion that vaccines don’t cause autism. Kennedy said he personally directed the change to the website, ABC News reported.
“The whole thing about ‘vaccines have been tested and there’s been this determination made,’ is just a lie,” Kennedy said in a New York Times interview Friday.
Kennedy’s record at the HHS secretary was also recently called out by his cousin Tatiana Schlossberg, who is dying of cancer. She said his activities at HHS secretary make cancer patients like herself less safe.
His family members had urged the Senate to reject his confirmation as HHS secretary, which was confirmed mostly on party lines, with only Sen. Mitch McConnell joining Democrats in opposing his nomination.
This isn’t the first time Warnock has called out Kennedy. He joined Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee calling on Kennedy to resign because of his “anti-health and science agenda” back in September.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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