NEWS: Senator Blunt Rochester Holds Spotlight Forum on Impact of HHS Vaccine Policies on Students and Families during Back-to-School Season

The full spotlight forum can be viewed here.

Washington, DC - U.S. Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.), Ranking Member of the Senate HELP Subcommittee on Education and the American Family, today held a spotlight forum on the impact of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.'s recent, unprecedented, and dangerous vaccine policies. The forum comes one week ahead of the HELP Committee's hearing with the recently fired former Director of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Susan Monarez, who was removed from her post because she refused to comply with Secretary Kennedy's harmful directives on vaccines.

Alongside fellow Senate Democrats, Blunt Rochester exposed how changes to vaccine policies are threatening children's health by creating widespread confusion and making it harder for families to access critical vaccinations. The forum also highlighted the importance of science-driven leadership at the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), and the role both the CDC and ACIP play in enabling broad vaccine access across the nation.

Blunt Rochester's opening remarks can be found below, as delivered.

Thank you all for joining us for today's spotlight forum, "Back to School: Navigating Vaccine Uncertainty in Trump's America." I want to give a special thank you to our panelists for being here. Together, we will shine a light on the importance of the CDC, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices - or ACIP - and on experts that inform vaccine availability in America as well as parents and educators and nurses.

We are in what some would call dark times in our history, as it pertains to our nation's public health. When the President nominated RFK, Jr. to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services, my colleagues and I sounded the alarm. We warned of the chaos and confusion he would bring, and of the conspiracy theories he would spread. We told the world he would make America sicker. But our warnings were ignored.

He was confirmed with the promise - with the promise - that he would leave the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices untouched. Yet, he fired all the sitting members of the committee and installed extremists in their place. He's done so much damage in a short amount of time that nine former CDC Directors have argued he's "endangering every American's health." Over 1,000 current and former HHS staff have called on him to be fired.

Under his watch, we've had 37 different Measles outbreaks. A total of 1,454 confirmed cases - the majority of those in children and teens - and 3 deaths. All from an illness that was effectively eradicated thanks to safe, effective vaccines.

Now, Americans are left wondering how to keep themselves and their loved ones protected from vaccine-preventable illnesses. A concern that has come to a head as our nation's children go back to school.

Just last week, Secretary Kennedy came before the Senate and claimed he has done nothing to restrict access to vaccinations, like the COVID-19 shot. But by undermining the ACIP and CDC leadership, he injected chaos into the health system, restricting what vaccines are available at what pharmacies.

He's created barriers - intentionally or not - that limit vaccine choice. States are now left to their own devices. And the health of students is now entirely dependent on their zip-code. Florida's Surgeon General announced his intention to end all vaccine mandates, while California, Oregon, and Washington will create their own "vaccine alliance" to protect the health of their communities.

My office has gotten numerous calls from Delawareans who have been denied COVID-19 vaccines. And the state of Delaware is now planning to join a coalition of our neighboring states to protect access to vaccinations for families on the East Coast.

If - God forbid - Florida has a new wave of COVID-19, a new measles outbreak, or even a resurgence of Polio, will RFK change course? Will it be too late? How will neighboring states be able to protect their communities with patchwork guidance and an anti-vax conspiracy theorist leading the charge?

We have today before us former ACIP members, a pediatrician, parents, and a nurse who will talk with us about what this means to American families, what this mayhem means for our students and their teachers, and how we can find a path forward in this madness.

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Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester represents Delaware in the United States Senate where she serves on the Committees on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs; Commerce, Science, and Transportation; Environment and Public Works; and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.