TRANSCRIPT: Van Hollen Joins Doctors, Nurses, Health Care Advocates to Highlight RFK Jr. Concerns Ahead of Confirmation Hearings

Today, U.S. Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) joined concerned doctors, nurses, and health care advocates from across the country for a press conference ahead of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s confirmation hearings. During the press conference, the Senator highlighted ways in which Kennedy is unfit to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. He outlined RFK Jr.’s long history of fueling disinformation about vaccines, as well as his pledge to disrupt the lifesaving research conducted at the Maryland-based National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Senator Van Hollen’s remarks can be viewed here, and a transcript is below:

“I just want to start by thanking all of you – who care about public health, who care about the future of people in our country – for being here now to raise the alarm about how RFK Jr., if he ever got close to being the Secretary of HHS would put the American public at risk. And as you've heard, and as you know, people will die.

“Now, I represent the great state of Maryland, which is home to the National Institutes of Health, it’s home to the FDA, it’s home to other federal health agencies. And we knew that public health in America, and medical research in America, was off to a rocky start when in the earliest days of the Trump Administration, they essentially put a freeze on all communications coming out of HHS. In other words, public health warnings, trying to make sure that people were educated and informed about health threats – they put a stop to all of that. 

“So Senator Alsobrooks – my new partner in the Senate – Congressman Raskin, and I have written to the new Administration to say: stop putting people's health care at risk and restore those communications. But as I think all of you know, there is still essentially a gag order, and internally, there is a huge fear throughout these federal agencies about just continuing their ongoing work to help the American people. And that's before – that’s even before – we have the hearings on RFK Jr.

“He has said that he would walk into NIH and immediately toss 600 people out and bring 600 of his people in. That will put the NIH and American health care at great risk. And we know – as Senator Murphy and others have already said and you all of you know – his position on vaccinations will result in killing people. It has killed people in Samoa. It will kill people in the United States. 

“I want to read a quote here from somebody who spoke to the country almost over 60 years ago. Here’s the quote, ‘I hope that the renewed drive to provide vaccination for all Americans, and particularly those who are young, will have the wholehearted support of every parent in America.’ That was John F. Kennedy, calling upon parents throughout the country to make sure their kids get vaccinated to protect them from polio and other diseases. 

“His nephew did not get the message. In fact, he’s doing the opposite.

“Which is why, as we gather here, we say that RFK Jr. is not only unqualified – he’s clearly not qualified – but it's worse than that because he would pose a danger to the American public. So, when Senator Murphy says you can go down the street and the first 100 people you find would be equally qualified, he's right. But they're not equally dangerous to public health, and that's what we have right now in RFK [Jr.].

“Now, I think all of you probably saw the letter from Caroline Kennedy the other day. She pointed out – and I quote – that her cousin Bobby, RFK  Jr., ‘vaccinates his own children while building a following by hypocritically discouraging other parents from vaccinating theirs.’

“I don't know if he just doesn't believe in vaccinations or whether he’s doing it, as his cousin Caroline Kennedy said, as a shtick to make a lot of money. Either way, it is a danger to the country, and we need to make sure that we stop this nomination.

“I think we can. I think in talking to some of my Republican colleagues there are grave concerns about what him being Secretary of HHS would mean to the public health and medical research in this country. But we need to do everything we can to make sure that they hear that message. And that's why you being here today is so important.

“So, let's keep at it. Let's raise the alarms. And let's protect the United States of America from the crazy conspiracy theories of RFK Jr., which will result in killing Americans. Thank you all for being part of this effort.”