Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Answers the Tough Questions, but Rand Paul Hits Today’s Bullseye

The confirmation games are continuing on Thursday, and some of the questions and statements are, as one might expect, treading into the realm of the sciences, specifically, biology and the practice of medicine. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), is still undergoing his confirmation hearings (grillings) in the Senate. On Thursday, a couple of gems were dropped. In the first, Senator Josh Hawley (R-MO) asks a good question and backs it with an interesting – and accurate – observation. 

RFK Jr. just told me he’ll stop funding for any NIH research using fetal tissue from abortions pic.twitter.com/X6F5u4ZCJy

— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) January 30, 2025

Senator Hawley: In NIH [National Institutes of Health], under the first Trump presidency, HHS stopped new NIH work that involved human fetal tissue from elective abortions. Now you were asked about this sort of tangentially yesterday by [Washington State Democrat] Senator [Maria] Cantwell, and I want to get your quote right, you said to her, correctly, you said “Stem cell research today can be done on umbilical cords, you don’t need any fetal tissue,” which is correct. My question to you is, will you reinstate President Trump’s policy that ensures that no federal research and no federal tax dollars is conducted on fetal tissue taken from elective abortions?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: Yes.

Senator Hawley and Mr. Kennedy are correct; to my knowledge, and I have a background in biology, pluripotent stem cells can be taken from umbilical cord tissue and blood following a normal delivery, obviating any need to use fetal tissue. Given the enormous ethical concerns many people have with elective abortions, it seems obvious that any federal funding in stem cell research would take advantage of that fact.

But that wasn’t the real zinger of the morning.

See Related: Elizabeth Warren Melts Down at RFK Jr. Over Lawsuits, Gets a Reality Check

Dem Senator Tries to Nail RFK Jr. With Attack on Trump, Medicaid During Hearing, Gets Embarrassed Instead

Senator Rand Paul delivered what could have been seen as a six-minute Ted Talk on how science works and how delivery of things like vaccines, along with diet and other considerations, change over time, and how parents, not the government, should be making decisions that affect their children.

This is a must-watch.

Rand Paul just WENT OFF at RFK Jr.’s hearing. pic.twitter.com/sIB2MwhpTs

— Gunther Eagleman™ (@GuntherEagleman) January 30, 2025

Senator Paul begins:

I think the discussion over vaccines is so oversimplified and dumbed down that we never really get to real truths, and it’s why people up here [gestures to the Senate] are so separated from real people at home. 

We talk about Hepatitis B, it’s a terrible disease, it can lead to liver failure, as the Chairman said. But the reason you have distrust from the people at home, why they don’t believe anything you say, and they don’t believe government at all, is you’re telling my kids to take a Hepatitis B vaccine when he’s one day old. You get it through drug use and sexually transmitted, that’s how you get Hepatitis B. 

But you’re telling me my kid has to take it at one day old. You’re not, that’s not science. And so every person with a bit of common sense, even people who don’t resist vaccines… I vaccinated all my kids. I believe vaccines are one of the modern miracles beyond all pale. “The Speckled Monster” is a great book about the introduction of the smallpox vaccine in 1720.

Senator Rand Paul, I would point out, is a practicing physician. He is an ophthalmologist – an eye surgeon – and does charity surgeries on patients during Senate recesses. He founded the Southern Kentucky Lions Eye Clinic, which provides eye care for charity patients who otherwise couldn’t afford it. He knows a thing or two about the practice of medicine.

By all means, listen to all of Senator Paul’s remarks; he makes great points about how science works, and how so many medical issues pertaining not only to vaccines but to diet, food additives, and many other medical matters have become politicized, leading to the American people harboring a lot of distrust towards government health care policy.

Science, the Senator points out, is a tool, a process for analyzing data and arriving at conclusions. That process of inquiry led to the discovery of the possibilities of pluripotent stem cells, the possibilities they present – and that they may be found in umbilical cord tissue and blood following a normal birth. That process of inquiry led to the many vaccines that are safe and effective, starting in the early 1700s. 

If we are going to have a federal agency such as Health and Human Services, an agency which I remind you is not authorized by the Constitution, that’s what HHS’s focus must be on – rigorous scientific inquiry. Not politics.

This post was originally published on this site