They're really afraid of RFK Jr. becoming the head of HHS...

MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace: "Just days before Donald Trump's nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. heads to Capitol Hill to kickstart his confirmation process. Brand new reporting reveals that one of his aides has been waging war against one of the miracles of modern medicine, the polio vaccine."

"New York Times is reporting this today, quote, the lawyer helping R.F.K. Jr. pick federal health officials for the incoming Trump administration. has petitioned the government to revoke its approval of the polio vaccine. That campaign is just one front in the war that the lawyer, Aaron Siri, is waging against vaccines of all kinds. In fact, Aaron Siri is a critical player in the anti-vax movement, or what RFK calls the medical freedom movement."

"New York Times adds that Siri is representing a group in, quote, petitioning the FDA to of 13 other vaccines, including combination products that cover tetanus, diphtheria, polio, and hepatitis A, until their makers disclose details about aluminum, an ingredient researchers have associated with a small increase in asthma cases."

"Before we go any further, we should be crystal clear in stating the established facts and science. That's it. Full stop. On the polio vaccine, the CDC says that just since 1988, quote, an estimated 20 million people who would have been paralyzed by the disease are walking and more than 1.5 million lives have been saved. Prior to the vaccine, the World Health Organization says that a half a million people were killed or paralyzed by polio every single year."

"But. Since we're doing this, the second Trump administration, for them, those facts, that history that established science around vaccines appears to be going by the wayside already. New York Times reporting this, quote, Kennedy has privately expressed interest in having Siri serve in the health and human services department as in the top legal job. as the general counsel. Katie Miller, a spokeswoman for Kennedy, said Mr. Siri has been advising Kennedy."

"Now, should RFK be confirmed by the United States Senate? All signs point to an HHS that is a dramatic departure from every previous administration, be it Republican or Democratic. An op-ed in the Wall Street Journal points out the contradiction in a Republican president appointing someone like RFK saying this, quote, prior to Kennedy's endorsement of Donald Trump, the GOP universe was clear-eyed about the radical environmentalists who spent decades on a mission to destroy the Trump base."

"An online search finds pages of stories of Kennedy's efforts to cripple farmers, ranchers, loggers and oil workers. Others outline his disdain for markets, core freedoms and limited government. The Wall Street Journal op-ed goes on to urge that Republican senators, quote, save the president as if that's their job now, as if the dynamic in the Republican party during the entire Trump era of politics hasn't been complete subservience to Donald Trump."

"And the truth is Trump appears to like RFK and share his skepticism about vaccines. While he defended the polio vaccine in an interview with our colleague Kristen Welker, he told Time Magazine he could get rid of certain vaccines, saying this, quote, if I think it's dangerous, if I think they are not beneficial. We should note, all vaccines administered in the United States go through an extensive approval process with multiple rounds of trials."

"Trump adding this quote, the autism rate is at a level that nobody ever believed possible. If you look at things that are happening, there's something causing it. Peddling, amplifying, platforming, a now widely debunked conspiracy theory linking vaccines to autism. It's simply not true. But what RFK and the company he keeps says about the future of public health in this country. is perhaps the biggest storm heading our way."