WASHINGTON, DC – Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) questioned Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during yesterday’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee hearing. Alsobrooks’ questioning received 12 million views (and counting) on social media and was covered by a variety of news outlets, see below for the highlights:
Print Highlights:
NPR: Senator calls RFK Jr.’s position on race and vaccines dangerous
It was one of the more tense exchanges in an already heated confirmation hearing as senators put Robert F Kennedy Jr.’s record on vaccines — and his shifting stances on their safety and efficacy — under the microscope.
Senator Angela Alsobrooks, a Democrat from Maryland, pointed to past comments made by Kennedy in which he said, “We should not be giving black people the same vaccine schedule that’s given to whites because their immune system is better than ours.”
…In response, Kennedy cited a well-known vaccine researcher and said there are a “series of studies” showing that “to particular antigens blacks have a much stronger reaction.”
The basis for Kennedy’s comment appears to be work done by a team at the Mayo Clinic who looked at differences in the immune response to vaccination by race. The data did show African Americans mounted a higher antibody response after MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) vaccination compared to white people.
However, the study’s own author tells NPR the data doesn’t support a change in vaccine schedule based on race.
The Baltimore Sun: U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks questions RFK Jr. about controversial vaccine statements, federal workers in Maryland
In a series of aggressive, rapid-fire questions to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about his plans to replace career scientists at the Maryland-based National Institutes for Health and reform the country’s biggest health agency at large, U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks leaned forward, took off her glasses and smiled as she launched into her ultimate question.
Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, a Maryland Democrat, asked Kennedy about prior comments that Black people might need a different vaccination schedule than whites. Alsobrooks, who is Black, asked how Kennedy thought she should have been vaccinated differently.
The New York Times: Senator rebukes Kennedy for comments on vaccine doses for Black people.
Senator Angela Alsobrooks, Democrat of Maryland, sharply rebuked Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during his Thursday confirmation hearing for suggesting that Black people should receive vaccines on a different schedule than other people, citing a 2021 interview in which he claimed that Black people have a better immune system than white people.
Montgomery Community Media: Alsobrooks Questions RFK Jr.’s Views on Vaccines
Alsobrooks also pushed RFK Jr. on his intentions to clean house of the scientists and federal career staff at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda.
The confirmation hearing exchange between Alsobrooks and Kennedy marked one of the first major moments involving the senator, who is still in her first month on the job.
Maryland Senator Angela Alsobrooks’ questioning of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President Donald Trump‘s nominee for secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, has gone viral online after the Democrat confronted him on his past statements about vaccines and Black Americans.
Alsobrooks said, “This is so dangerous. Mr. Kennedy, with all due respect, that is so dangerous. Your voice would be a voice that parents would listen to. That is so dangerous.”
Alsobrooks said she will not be voting for Kennedy.
Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) on Thursday grilled Department of Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s history of claiming Black Americans have a better immune system than white people.
Alsobrooks, one of only two Black women serving in the Senate, questioned Kennedy on what he meant regarding a 2021 claim that “we should not be giving Black people the same vaccine schedule that’s given to whites because their immune system is better than ours.”
Government Executive: Democrats worry RFK Jr. could purge ‘thousands’ of federal health employees
‘I was struck by your comments in our meeting last week where you made it abundantly clear to me that you intended to clean house of the professional scientists at the National Institutes of Health,’ said Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., during a Thursday Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing. NIH is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland.