Senate Republican leader and polio survivor Mitch McConnell on Friday condemned “dangerous” efforts to abolish the polio vaccine following news that Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s lawyer’s tried to do just that.
Attorney Aaron Siri in 2022 petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to revoke its approval for multiple critical childhood vaccines, including the polio vaccine. News of Siri’s action resurfaced just weeks after RFK Jr. was named by President-elect Donald Trump as his pick to be secretary of Health and Human Services. Siri is currently helping Kennedy vet officials to serve in the department.
Kennedy is known for his extreme anti-vaccine positions which are widely derided by the mainstream medical community. Siri’s petition claimed the vaccine was not properly tested to ensure it was safe, despite its decade-long use protecting millions of children from contracting the disease.
“The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives and held out the promise of eradicating a terrible disease,” McConnell said in a statement following news reports of Siri’s action. “Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed — they’re dangerous.”
McConnell contracted polio as a toddler and managed to fend off the paralysis often brought by the life-threatening illness. Though to this day he suffers from stiffness in his legs triggered by the polio.
“Like millions of families before them, my parents knew the pain and fear of watching their child struggle with the life-altering diagnosis of polio,” McConnell noted.
“From the age of two, normal life without paralysis was only possible for me because of the miraculous combination of modern medicine and a mother’s love. But for millions who came after me, the real miracle was the saving power of the polio vaccine.”
Neither Siri nor RFK Jr. immediately responded to McConnell’s attack.