Despite having so recently lived through a worldwide pandemic that killed over a million Americans, Republicans have decided that what the world needs now is even more deadly contagious diseases. That much was made clear this week, as congressional Republicans blessed further efforts by Donald Trump's administration to block both domestic and international efforts to prevent the transmission of infectious illnesses.
On Tuesday, Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee voted to move forward with Trump's nominee to run Health and Human Services (HHS), Robert Kennedy, the world's most famous and, sadly, effective vaccine denialist. Kennedy has spent two decades diving so far down the conspiracy theory rabbit hole that he now sounds like he doubts even basic germ theory. Although Kennedy repeatedly claimed that he's not anti-vaccine throughout his hearing, his statements about vaccines are loaded with weasel words and caveats that are common deflection strategies from vaccine denialists.
