CNN’s Dana Bash called out HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s claims about autism in the second half of the stunning 22-minute showdown between the two on Sunday’s State of the Union.
After a chaotic start to the interview which focused on Covid, the battle ramped up even further when the subject switched to autism.
“The Wall Street Journal reported that the president is pressuring you to conduct studies probing the link between vaccines and autism,” Bash said. “Is that true?”
“He certainly does,” Kennedy said.
“Have you talked to him about medical research that have studied this for 25 years and found no link between autism and vaccines?” Bash asked. “And just that — this is my question here, because I don’t want to litigate that. My question is, why not — because you are HHS secretary now. Why not study what could cause autism, which scientists do believe starts with fetal brain development? Why not do some studies on that, whether there’s — since you’re an environmental lawyer, whether there are environmental factors that go into contributing to a predisposed genetic situation?”
“Well, let me say this first. We’re doing all those things,” Kennedy said. “And that’s one of the ways that we found Tylenol. There’s 73 studies out that link Tylenol exposure during later pregnancy and during the perinatal period to autism onset. But you are wrong when you say that this issue has been studied. It has been studied. And you’re rolling your eyes, Dana —”
“I am,” Bash said. “Because I don’t want — I don’t want to have you use our air to say this. There have been more than 40 studies involving 5.6 million people to conclude there is no link between vaccines and autism. This is the head of the Committee of Infectious Diseases for the American Academy of Pediatrics.”
Kennedy interrupted the fact-check.
“And now let me tell you what the Institute of Medicine is — says, which is the National Academy of Sciences, which is the ultimate arbiter on vaccine safety, in which it does not have an interest in this debate,” Kennedy said. “It says that none of the eight vaccines that are administered during the first six months of life have ever been studied for relationship to autism. It found two studies, one on the DTP vaccine that show that it does cause autism, and one on the hepatitis B vaccine that again suggests that it does cause autism. The Institute of Medicine dismissed those two studies because they were based on CDC’s database. The studies that you’re referring to are all from one vaccine, the MMR vaccine, or one ingredient, thimerosal.”
But Bash pressed the secretary.
“So you are using — you are actually looking at — you’re starting new studies to try to link autism, but you’re also telling me_”
“I’m not trying to link autism to anything,” Kennedy said. “I’m trying to find out, why has autism gone from-”
“Are you also trying to find out how it interacts with people’s DNA, what’s predisposed to have an autistic child?” Bash said. “Are you doing both?
“Yes,” Kennedy replied. “Dana, you probably don’t understand this because you’re not a scientist.”
“You’re not either!” Bash shot back.
From there, the already off-the-rails interview got truly chaotic.
BASH: Do you want people to get the MMR vaccine?
KENNEDY: Yes, I said that already.
BASH: OK.
KENNEDY: So I know you’re flustered now, and it is…
BASH: I don’t — I’m not flustered at all.
KENNEDY: It is frustrating because people…
(CROSSTALK)
BASH: I am frustrated. The reason I’m frustrated is because I — you are the HHS secretary, and you are talking about things that lead to vaccine hesitancy in this country. And it is something that causes problems for people, when there is not anything…
(CROSSTALK)
KENNEDY: Let me ask you something. Do you see your job as ending vaccine hesitancy, or do you see your job as telling the truth to the American people?
BASH: I see my job as telling the truth. And the truth is that there is study after study after study. It’s one of the most studied things out there in science.
KENNEDY: You’re repeating it like a parrot. You’re repeating it like a parrot.
BASH: So are you.
KENNEDY: I have actually read the science. Let’s…
(CROSSTALK)
BASH: You don’t want to…
KENNEDY: Let’s you and I come back here and debate the science.
BASH: I don’t — I’m not debating this with you.
KENNEDY: Of course you won’t.
BASH: No, because I’m not…
(CROSSTALK)
KENNEDY: All you know how to do is repeat things that people told you and say, trust the experts. That’s what you did during COVID. Now we know that Anthony Fauci, who was the expert, was lying about everything, about masks, about the social distancing, about natural immunity, about the transmission from the vaccine, about the source of COVID. He was lying, and you were punishing people for not trusting the experts. And now you’re rolling out the experts again…
BASH: Yes.
KENNEDY: … to talk about something that you have no personal knowledge of.
BASH: OK. Well, guess what? That is my job to talk to people.
KENNEDY: Your job is to tell the truth to the American public…
BASH: Am I allowed to talk? Yes, yes. And my job is to get as much information as I can
KENNEDY: … and to maintain a posture of fierce skepticism toward government authority.
BASH: What we were doing in COVID and still, with regard to these vaccines, is getting the best information, the best science that we can and putting it out there.
And, sir, you what you are doing is causing information to be out there that is not accurate.
(CROSSTALK)
KENNEDY: … lying to you, who is lying to you.
Watch above, via CNN>
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