Christine, a urologic surgeon and GOP donor from Alabama, was questioned hard by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) on whether or not he would be an “evangelist” for vaccines, measles in particular, should he be confirmed to serve as the the assistant secretary of health, serving under HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Christine offered a qualified answer, saying that he believes in the importance of vaccines and his own child is vaccinated but that he also respects individual choice.
“I will absolutely be an evangelist that vaccinations are important. Vaccines do save lives,” Christine said, qualifying later that he would “use that position to be an evangelist to help individuals understand and want to pursue the appropriate vaccination schedule that is right for them.”
Vaccine policy has been a hot-button issue for HHS under the leadership of Kennedy, who has been a long-term skeptic of vaccines’ safety and has promoted the debunked theory that vaccines cause autism.
Last month, Kennedy fired the members of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention vaccine safety review panel and replaced them with members more skeptical of traditional vaccine protocols.
Several HHS officials, including Kennedy, have been criticized by physician groups and public health advocates for not using their platforms to bolster confidence in the safety of vaccines.
In his questions for Christine on Wednesday, Cassidy highlighted that cases of measles in the United States are at a 33-year high, threatening the U.S.’s status of having effectively eradicated the disease.
Three measles deaths of children have been reported this year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and a pregnant woman in Canada died from measles this year.
Christine told Cassidy that he believes that “there are going to be inherent risks and benefits with any medical therapy,” including vaccines.
But Cassidy pushed back, saying the most recent vaccine-preventable deaths from measles demonstrate the need for more attention on the positive effects of vaccinations.
“Of course, there’s always risk, but there’s been a lot of emphasis upon the risk, but no emphasis upon the risk of not being vaccinated,” said Cassidy. “People don’t die from getting vaccinated against measles, they just don’t. People do die if they don’t get vaccinated.”
Christine said he personally recommends the measles vaccine and noted that Kennedy has also done so since the outbreak of measles broke out in Texas this spring in an undervaccinated religious community.
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The assistant secretary for health position is often held by admirals in the Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service. If confirmed by the Senate, Christine would oversee thousands of uniformed public-health service members charged with carrying out Kennedy’s health directives, including on vaccines.
