ICYMI: Senator Murray Calls for Immediate Firing of RFK Jr., Commends CDC Director Monarez’s Stand for Science and Public Health
ICYMI: Senator Murray, Former ACIP Member from WA State Raise Alarm Over Purge of Entire CDC Vaccine Advisory Committee
Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member and former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, issued the following statement on the announcement by Washington Governor Bob Ferguson, California Governor Gavin Newsom, and Oregon Governor Tina Kotek of a new West Coast Health Alliance to provide a unified regional response to the Trump administration’s destruction of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) credibility and scientific integrity.
“I am glad that Washington state is once again leading the way in standing up for science and public health, but it is a dark day indeed when states have to create parallel structures for vaccine guidance because HHS is under the thumb of a conspiracy theorist and cannot be trusted to follow basic science and make lifesaving vaccines widely available to people who need them.
“RFK Jr. is burning down our public health agencies from the inside and putting Americans in harm’s way—blocking access to lifesaving vaccines, decimating funding for medical research and breakthrough cancer treatments, and forcing anyone who dares to stand up for science out of a job at HHS. He is a dangerously wrong and incompetent man who is sending America backward to a time when diseases ran rampant and we didn’t have effective treatments and cures to prevent them.
“Now, RFK Jr.’s baseless anti-vaccine crusade means that millions of Americans who want to get the updated COVID-19 vaccines this fall to protect themselves and their families will no longer have the option. It’s important for states like Washington to step up to protect public health, but diseases don’t recognize borders. We still need a functioning and trustworthy federal health department—for that to happen, RFK Jr. must be fired immediately.”
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