RFK Jr. -The effect- The New York Times

On By Littum

An American Airlines -Jet and an army helicopter collided just outside Washington DC last night and threw himself into the Potomac River.

The people of the four were on the plane that came from Wichita, can., Including us and Russian figure treasurers who returned from a training camp. The military aircraft transported a crew of three.

Emergency persons are looking for cold and grim waters after survivors, and Reagan National Airport will be closed until 1 p.m. 11, see photos and the latest news from the rescue effort.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Have a history of drawing attention to overlooked public health problems, whether it is autism, river pollution, food additives or the toll for covid school closures. But Kennedy also has a history of backing solutions that are incompatible with scientific evidence, especially on vaccines. He has repeatedly made false claims about their effectiveness and their side effects.

At Kennedy’s Senate’s confirmation hearing yesterday, Democrats – and a few Republicans – confronted him about these claims. Ron Wyden, an Oregon -Democrat, read an offer of 2023 when Kennedy said “No vaccine is safe and effective,” and Bernie Sanders showed a photo of a baby’s OneSie, promoted by a group of kennedy races, with the words “no VAX, no problem.

His chances probably come down to a small number of Republicans who seem to be conflicted about whether to support him. If no Democrats or independent supports Kennedy, he can only lose three Republican senators and still be confirmed. (This is the Republicans to look at.)

In today’s newsletter, I will explain three ways that Kennedy can affect the use of vaccines if the Senate confirms him as President Trump’s secretary of health and human services.

Bird flu – specifically H5N1 virus – has spread rapidly in the past year. It has infected nearly 1,000 cattle herds in the United States and caused serious illnesses in a small number of people. If the virus is mutated to jump more easily between humans, it can become a major problem. (Here’s Morning’s Recent Bird Influenza -Explorer.)

An H5N1 vaccine is found even if the supply is modest. If the virus is spreading, the federal government is, including the Department of Health and Human Services, probably need to play a key role in speeding up production. Still, Kennedy has criticized the vaccine as dangerous despite evidence to the opposite.

If bird flu exploded to a full pandemic – or an unexpected new virus appeared – the country may also benefit from powerful vaccines using mRNA. It’s the technology used by the Federal Warp Speed ​​Project to create the Covide vaccines, and Kennedy has inaccurately criticized MRNA vaccines for killing many people. “It’s hard to see him advocates their development, as Warp Speed ​​did,” said my colleague Apoorva Mandavilli, who covers bird flu.

Kennedy could also push the FDA, which he would oversee, not to approve vaccines that are in the pipeline. A potential example is a vaccine against Lyme disease.

In 1986, the federal government created a program to compensate families whose children suffer from rare side effects from vaccines. The health secretary has the power to choose which vaccines and which side effects are part of the program that uses a special court to decide.

If Kennedy extended the list of suspected injuries that are eligible for compensation, it may lead to a flood of claim. He could also remove vaccines from the court’s purpose, which means their producers could be sued in a traditional court. “Such an event could lead to vaccine manufacturers taking their products from the market,” my colleague Christina Jewett told me.

Kennedy has a personal share in these anti-vaccine litigation, Wall Street Journal’s editor noticed. He has received payments from a law firm that sued a large vaccine producer and he plans to continue to receive them even if he becomes health secretary. Some of the cases involve a vaccine called Gardasil that protects against a group of viruses causing cervical cancer.

Kennedy would also have authority over vaccines for children, a $ 8 billion program that helps give children with lower income access to polio vaccines, measles, biking coughs and chickenpox.

He has promised not to take vaccines away from people who want them. But he could still change the program in ways that would make vaccines more difficult to get or promote doubts about those Christina and Sheryl Gay Stolberg have pointed out. The health secretary oversees the contracts that pay vaccine manufacturers to manufacture and distribute the shots.

More broadly, Dr. Tom Frieden, a former CDC director, concern about the possibility of a “soft recall” where “certain vaccines remain technically available but are no longer recommended widely or refunded by insurance, making them effectively inaccessible too much of much of the public .

The bottom line: Vaccine skepticism, often disconnected from Facts, has been Kennedy’s signature problem for years. This is an important reason why he wants the job of health secretary. If he gets it, the most likely scenario is that vaccine use will decrease and the occurrence of the underlying diseases – as measles that may be deadly – will increase.

  • Kennedy accused pesticides and processed foods for the increase in chronic illness among American children. He denied that he was an anti-vaccine and noticed that his children were vaccinated.

  • Democrats pressed Kennedy over his attitude towards abortion. He called himself “pro-choice” as he entered the presidential race in 2023, but he said yesterday that states should be able to set restrictions.

  • Kennedy stumbled over a Republican Senator’s questions about Medicare and Medicaid. He confused the programs several times.

  • Other Republicans praised Kennedy as a rebellious truth narrator. The audience in the hearing work, which included many of his supporters, shouted, “Doing America Healthy Again” after the hearing.

  • Here is a fact control of Kennedy’s statement. He will perform for the Senate Health Committee today for another consultation.

  • Kash Patel and Tulsi Gabbard, two of Trump’s other high -profile choices, will also make their cases affirmation today.

  • Trump ordered his administration to prepare to house thousands of migrants in Guantánamo Bay. He did not offer details of the plan.

  • Trump signed the Bipartisan Lake Riley action in law. It instructs authorities to deport immigrants accused of certain crimes.

  • ICE agents – in a power exhibition – worked with dozens of officers from other federal agencies to arrest 39 people in New York.

  • Hamas released two Israeli hostages. Eight prisoners in total – three Israelis and five Thais – are expected to be released today.

  • The first hostage release was careful and calm, but video footage showed another liberated hostages passing through an irregular and chaotic crowd. Watch the video.

  • Trump’s Middle East -Release took a trip to Gaza. He is the first senior US official to visit the enclave for years.

  • The Rebel coalition, which took control of Syria, appointed his leader, Ahmed Al-Shara, to act as president, while the country is a permanent government.

US companies must learn from the composite leaders of higher education and be silent on political issues, Anthony Casey and Tom Ginsburg write.

As Los Angeles rebuilds, the city must prioritize money for schools, Jessica Grose writes.

Here are columns of Nicholas Kristof about the flowering population of Africa and Pamela Paul About how to remain sensible.

WNBA: Caitlin Clark will not attend the Crossover 3-point Challenge at NBA All-Star Game.

NBA: NBC is expected to hire Reggie Miller to be a leading analyst for NBA coverage.

Breaking character during a live performance is generally seen as unprofessional. But it has become a characteristic of “Saturday Night Live” during the show’s 50 seasons, and the audience rejoices when the facade cracks – though Lorne Michaels reportedly hates it. Jason Zinoman, The Times’s Comedy Paltist, collected some of the most memorable breaks in the show’s history.