Kaufman on vaccines
While Cassidy was clearly disappointed and frustrated with Schwartz, he was downright angry with Kaufman. Throughout the hearing, Kaufman tried to backpedal on his comments about vaccines, but his responses were unconvincing. In questions from Sanders, Kaufman confirmed that he once wrote he would rather die than give his children a COVID-19 vaccine, but pointed out that he did once recommend the vaccine to his wife’s mom.
When senators confronted him about his false claims and attacks on the hepatitis B vaccine birth dose, he noted that all three of his children had received it.
Cassidy, a hepatologist who has treated patients with severe liver damage from hepatitis B, including some who died from the infection, didn’t let the issue drop. “Why would you repeat those damn lies?” Cassidy yelled, angrily pounding his pencil. Kaufman noted that he had deleted the LinkedIn post in which he made the claims and suggested they weren’t that bad because he had written ambiguously.
Kaufman on mRNA research
Senators also pressed Kaufman on his thoughts on mRNA vaccine technology—which is widely considered to be a promising technology for quickly developing new vaccines against novel pathogens, potentially ones with pandemic potential. But Kennedy despises the technology and has spread significant misinformation about mRNA technology. Last year, he drew intense criticism for canceling hundreds of millions of dollars in federal grants to develop mRNA vaccines, including for pandemic preparedness.
When asked about his support for mRNA technology, Kaufman bafflingly said he both supported Kennedy’s decision to cut research funding for mRNA technology and believed the US should support more research on mRNA technology. Kaufman’s odd explanation was that he didn’t want to support research for future uses of mRNA technology until there was more research into the platform on which mRNA COVID-19 vaccines were designed.
“That implies we can’t do two things at once,” Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) said upon hearing this explanation. He later summed up his reaction to Kaufman’s argument, saying, “I’m incredulous.”
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) was equally bewildered. “I don’t understand how you want more research, but canceling it is okay.”
Cassidy, after blasting Kaufman on the hepatitis B vaccine, said he was “flummoxed” and “flabbergasted” that Kaufman said he supported canceling mRNA research because there wasn’t enough mRNA research.
