Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., on Sunday defended Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, saying that Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, is “extremely intelligent when it comes to” vaccines and questioned levels of autism in the United States.
“I’ve sat down and had a, had a long conversation with [Kennedy], and I actually find the guy extremely intelligent when it comes to this stuff. And some of this stuff does raise a lot of questions,” Mullin told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” when asked whether Kennedy’s history of questioning the efficacy of vaccines is a dealbreaker for the Oklahoma senator.
“I have said that there’s, there’s some positives to vaccinations. I’ve also questioned the vaccines multiple times, and I think they should be questioned,” Mullin told moderator Kristen Welker before baselessly linking vaccines to autism, something that Kennedy has repeatedly done for years, despite the fact that there is no evidence that vaccines cause the condition.
“For instance, why is America highest in autism? What is causing that? Is it our diet, or is it some of the stuff we’re putting in our children’s system?” Mullin said, adding, “What is causing that? And if it isn’t vaccines, there’s no — nothing wrong with actually taking a hard look and finding out, is that’s what’s causing it? Is it something else that we’re putting in our systems? We do know we’re not as healthy as we should be right now.”
While it is true that the prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder has increased “most years since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began tracking ASD in 2000,” according to the CDC, “To date, the studies continue to show that vaccines are not associated with ASD.”
The agency points to two studies, one from the National Academy of Medicine and one from the CDC that found that vaccines do not cause autism. The first reviewed the safety of eight individual vaccines for children and adults. The second study reviewed antigens given to children during the first two years of life. Both studies found that vaccines are safe and do not cause autism.
Kennedy has a long history of baselessly questioning the efficacy of vaccines and has also promoted conspiracy theories about fluoride, raw milk, heavy metals in food and pesticides.
Mullin also indicated that he would be supportive of Trump pursuing confirmation of some of his nominees via the recess appointment process, something that Trump said he would ask of the senate majority leader in a post on TruthSocial before Senate Republicans elected Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., as their new Majority Leader this week.
Recess appointments would allow the president-elect to place the House and Senate into recess so that he could appoint his nominees without having to go through the traditional Senate confirmation process.
It’s something that the Senate strives to avoid and it’s why the chamber gavels into pro-forma sessions even while they’re in recess.
Mullin acknowledged that it is a “very difficult” process and recalled that former President Barack Obama tried to use the recess appointment process and was rebuked by the Supreme Court.
“It’d be the absolute last resort,” Mullin told Welker. “But if that’s what we have to do to get the confirmation through, then absolutely, let’s do it. But I would say that would be last option.”
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