Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Hawaii’s Democratic governor and sitting physician, Josh Green, will visit Capitol Hill this week to lobby lawmakers against Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination. for the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). In a Tuesday op-ed for The New York Times, he argued that “our children’s lives depend” on preventing Kennedy from leading the agency.
Green, who worked as a physician before entering politics, has continued to practice emergency medicine throughout his legislative career. In 2019, as lieutenant governor of Hawaii, Green helped lead efforts to increase vaccination rates in Samoa amid a measles outbreak in the region Green arrived in the nation’s capital Sunday evening to begin his meetings that will last until he returns to Hawaii on Thursday.
“As the only medical governor, I have to explain what are good choices and what maybe not so good choices for the cabinet,” Green said in a video before his planned trip to Washington, noting that his lobbying against Kennedy is not. anything personal or politically motivated. “Nomination (RFK Jr) to be the boss Health and Human Services it is not consistent with the safety of our children,” he said.
RFK JR. SAYS PLANS TO MEET WITH DEMS ALSO TO GET HIMSELF CONFIRMED AS TRUMP HHS CHIEF
During his trip to Washington, Green said he would discuss with lawmakers and other leaders to explore “a better place for (RFK Jr.) to be” instead of HHS, calling his potential confirmation “a bad idea.”
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green speaks at the 2024 summer meeting of the National Governors Association, Thursday, July 11, 2024, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Questions about the likelihood of Kennedy’s confirmation took a turn this week after Sen. Bill Cassidy, R–La., the incoming chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, called the potential future secretary of the HHS to be “wrong” on the subject of vaccines. The criticism follows concerns that Kennedy might try get rid of the polio vaccine, after it emerged that one of his former colleagues at Childrens Health Defense, a health-focused non-profit organization he had previously chaired, had asked the government in 2019 to revoke his approval.
Green’s criticism of Kennedy has also largely revolved around his anti-vaccine views, particularly Kennedy’s response to a measles outbreak in Samoa, during which the potential future HHS secretary promoted doubts on vaccine effectiveness, according to Green and others, such as Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Mass. D. Those efforts included a letter Kennedy sent to the nation’s prime minister, as chairman of the Children’s Health Advocacy, suggesting that the measles vaccine may have exacerbated the outbreak.
DIET AND NUTRITION EXPERTS THINK ABOUT HOW RFK JR’S NOMINATION COULD AFFECT HOW WE EAT
President-elect Trump appointed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to run HHS. (Getty Images)
The Democratic governor wrote a op-ed published in The New York Times on Tuesday, continuing to work on Kennedy’s anti-vaccine efforts in 2019 amid the measles outbreak in Samoa. According to Greene, Kennedy “used misinformation to scare the entire population of Samoa into not being vaccinated” and served to “torpedo” the country’s vaccination efforts.
“Too much depends on our commitment to the truth and saving power of vaccines to entrust Mr. Kennedy with the direction of these programs. Our children’s lives depend on it,” Green wrote.
RFK JR. DIRTY TO QUIET SENATORS FOR VACCINES COMMENTS
Kennedy’s team has not responded to Fox News Digital’s repeated efforts to reach out, but in 2023, Kennedy said during an appearance in a short film that he “never told anyone not to vaccinate” and that he “doesn’t he went (to Samoa) with no reason to do so.” Also, amid concerns about how Kennedy might approach the polio vaccine, he told reporters on Capitol Hill last month that he is “all for the polio vaccine.”
Medical professional who prepares the injection of vaccine or treatment. (iStock)
Defenders of Kennedy’s nomination have suggested that their proposed plans, if confirmed, will be rooted in logic and science.
“I think Kennedy has wanted to advocate for evidence-based policy changes,” said Nina Teicholz, a nutrition expert and founder of The Nutrition Coalition, a New York-based nonprofit.
“Right now, the media covers RFK Jr. poorly and unfairly, giving him no credit for ideas that are within the bounds of discussion,” added Dr. Vinay Prasad, in an article published by The Free Press. “There is logic to many of RFK Jr.’s ideas.”
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Fox News Digital reached out to Green’s office for comment, but did not hear back by press time.
