Bernie Sanders Confronts RFK Jr. With His Anti-Vax Onesies in Surreal Senate Scene
Trump’s health secretary pick said he had nothing to do with the baby clothing.
AFP via Getty Images
Bernie Sanders angrily attacked RFK Jr. over the sale of baby clothes with anti-vaxxers slogans being sold by a children’s health group that Donald Trump’s pick for health chief founded.
The Vermont senator showed lawmakers at Wednesday’s confirmation photos of two baby onesies with the words, “No Vax, No Problem” and “Unvaxxed, Unafraid.”
He then urged Kennedy to agree that, considering his insistence that he was not against vaccines, he would take the items of clothing off the market.
Bernie Sanders showcases "unvaxed" shirts sold by an organization he claims RFK Jr. runs.
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) January 29, 2025
It backfired.
SANDERS: You say you are pro-vaccine... just want to ask, will you have your organization pull this merchandise?
RFK JR: I am not even part of that organization. I resigned.… pic.twitter.com/PVYaK6uQ2c
“You started a group called the Children’s Health Defense, right?” said Sanders. “Right now, as I understand it, on their website they are selling what’s called onesies, these are little things for babies.
“One of them,” he said, pointing to a blown-up photo on a board behind him, “says ‘Unvaxxed and Unafraid,’ and the next one – they’re sold for 26 bucks apiece by the way – is ‘no vax, no problem.’
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“Now you come before this committee and you say you are pro-vaccine. I just want to ask some questions, yet your organization is making money selling a child’s product to parents for 26 bucks which casts fundamental doubt on the usefulness of vaccines.
Kennedy, however, insisted that the onesie hustle was out of his hands.
“Senator, I have no power over that organization,” said Kennedy. “I’m not part of it, I resigned from the board.”
“Just a few months ago,” Sanders hit back. “You founded that, you certainly have power. Are you supportive of this?” he added, pointing again at the photo boards.
“I’m supportive of vaccines,” said Kennedy, who laughed nervously as Sanders tried again to press his point. “I want good science,” he added.
Earlier in the fraught confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Finance Committee, Sanders won a pledge from Kennedy that he would seek equity on prescription drug prices with markets abroad if he gets the HSS Secretary job.
Kennedy told Sanders that he did not agree with Donald Trump’s views on climate change and did not believe it was a hoax.
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