By The Defender Staff
Kennedy, Balancing MAHA and White House, Says He Won’t Run for President in 2028
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is caught between his Make America Healthy Again supporters who want him to do more to advance their priorities, including curtailing vaccines, and a White House trying to combat President Donald Trump’s unpopularity.
Protesters’ chants could be heard from inside the Cleveland City Club, where Kennedy was speaking to a bipartisan group of citizens as part of his recent tour of northern Ohio. His calls for parents to have more “choice” on vaccinating their children was met with applause from half of the room. The other half released exasperated sighs and gasps. His travel schedule is about to get busier: Kennedy is expected to stump for GOP lawmakers, traveling to states with competitive races in the upcoming midterm elections.
The goal of Kennedy’s campaign appearances is to shore up support for Republican candidates. But his targeted presence underscores the increasingly intense push and pull Kennedy faces as he works to maintain enduring political viability with GOP voters — especially MAHA supporters.
NH Senate Kills Vaccine Exemptions Legislation; Approves Bill Requiring DHHS to Promote Exemptions
New Hampshire Bulletin reported:
The New Hampshire Senate again shot down an annual effort to change the process by which New Hampshire families can get religious exemptions for vaccine requirements.
State law requires children be vaccinated against polio, tetanus, hepatitis B, mumps, pertussis, rubella, rubeola, varicella, diphtheria, and haemophilus influenzae type B before entering school or childcare. However, there are exemptions for families with religious objections or people who can’t be vaccinated for medical reasons.
The process for receiving a religious exemption involves parents filling out a form created by the state Department of Health and Human Services. In recent years, several conservative lawmakers have taken issue with that form.
House Bill 1022, sponsored by Manchester Republican Rep. Matt Drew, sought to have New Hampshire use a new form that simply states: “I, [insert parent or legal guardian’s name], hereby attest that I sincerely hold religious beliefs and/or engage in religious practices or observances that dictate the refusal to accept the required vaccinations for [insert child’s name], born [insert child’s date of birth]. [Insert parent or legal guardian’s signature and date.]” The Senate rejected the bill Thursday — the latest in a series of setbacks for the lawmakers behind it.
CDC Says There Are No U.S. Hantavirus Cases Currently, 41 People Being Monitored
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there are no hantavirus cases in the country as of Thursday, as it monitors 41 people across the U.S. for the virus. The agency said the risk to the general public remains low in the aftermath of an outbreak on a cruise ship.
The CDC advised those who are being monitored to stay at home and avoid people for 42 days. That includes people from three main groups: passengers who were recently repatriated and are now in Nebraska and Atlanta, passengers who had already left the ship and returned home before the outbreak was identified and people who may have been exposed during travel, “specifically on flights where a symptomatic case was present,” Dr. David Fitter, the incident manager for the CDC’s hantavirus response, told reporters in a media briefing.
Hospital Says RFK Jr. Did Not Operate Robotic Arm During Heart Surgery
The Cleveland Clinic is pushing back on a report that Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. operated a robotic arm during a patient’s heart surgery on a recent visit to the medical center, clarifying that he was merely an observer.
“He briefly observed a robotic heart surgery as part of a broader tour, which included a demonstration using a disconnected teaching console that was unable to perform any surgical functions,” a spokesperson for the clinic told The Hill in a statement on Thursday. “He played no role in the patient’s care,” they added.
The explanation came after KFF Health News reported Wednesday that Kennedy “briefly tested the teaching console” of the clinic’s robotic hands “with a live patient splayed open for heart surgery in the room.” The article has since been updated to reflect the clinic’s statement.
CDC Plans to Transfer Monkeys to Nonprofit’s Sanctuary as It Seeks to Reduce Animal Testing
As part of efforts to phase out the use of monkeys in research, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention intends to transfer more than 160 macaques to Born Free USA, a nonprofit that runs a large primate sanctuary in Texas.
The agency is trying to move quickly due to the “unusual and compelling urgency” of finding housing for the monkeys, according to a notice about the proposed contract that was posted on a procurement website run by the General Services Administration.
A timeline for the transfer was not specified but the agency is accepting responses until May 28.
“The overall objective is to ensure the seamless and humane transfer of all CDC animals into naturalistic and enriched environments that support their physical and behavioral health, within facilities that are compliant with standards” set by the Global Federation of Animal Sanctuaries, the notice states.
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