Aaron Siri, an attorney for failed presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., filed a petition to get the federal government to rescind its approval for the polio vaccine, despite decades of the medicine being administered to prevent the spread of the disease.
Donald Trump has nominated Kennedy to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, and Siri is now assisting Kennedy in vetting health officials.
The New York Times reported that Siri submitted his petition to the government in 2022 and has sought to prevent the government from distributing 13 additional vaccines. Siri has also filed lawsuits to oppose mandates for vaccines used to fight the COVID-19 virus and has brought in vaccine scientists for hostile depositions in cases opposing the use of vaccines. The majority of the petitions he has filed have been on behalf of the Informed Consent Action Network, a major anti-vax nonprofit, run by a close ally of Kennedy’s.
In the 1940s and ’50s, before a polio vaccine was available, the United States suffered through multiple polio epidemics. Children were particularly vulnerable to polio, which can cause permanent paralysis and death in the most extreme cases. Many who suffered from polio were forced into confinement in a restrictive iron lung.
In response to these outbreaks, Americans faced major disruptions of their daily living as public facilities like swimming pools and sporting events had to be closed or canceled to prevent the spread of the disease.
After the vaccine became available in the ’50s the nation and most of the world adopted a policy of frequent and widespread vaccination. Polio infections in the U.S. went from 16,000 cases per year to zero in 2020.
Rescinding the vaccine would likely lead to new polio outbreaks, experts say. Many who are carrying the virus do not demonstrate symptoms and could easily transmit the infection to others which would not be noticed until paralysis began.
Kennedy has promoted vaccine conspiracies for years, most notably the false claim that there is a connection between autism and vaccination. Despite his unscientific claims—or perhaps because of them—Trump has chosen to put him in charge of public health for millions of people, and opened the door to fringe figures like Siri influencing domestic and global health.
