Former White House COVID response coordinator on RFK Jr.’s nomination and vaccines
WASHINGTON (CBS, KYMA/KECY) - Deborah Birx spoke to Margaret Brennan on Face the Nation Sunday on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination for Department of Health and Human Services.
"I think the most important thing is what team he would bring with him, because you're talking about really a large cap corporation with a highly diverse group, which you have to really bring together and, frankly, eliminate some of the duplication set between these agencies to really become more cost effective, and so really having a management person at his side, a chief of staff, perhaps that has really come out of industry that would know how to bring and look and bring those individuals together that are running the other agencies, because...HHS is probably one of our most complicated departments."
Deborah Birx, former White House coronavirus response coordinator
Brennan and Birx talked about Kennedy's goals of getting processed food out school lunches, having the cereal companies taking dyes out their food, and more. When asked if he can take on big agriculture and get that through, Birx said:
"I think because a lot of the people who are suffering the most from these additives are actually people in our rural areas. 16 percent of the Americans live in a rural area, but they are providing all of our oil and gas, all of our fiber, all of our cotton and all of our food. And the level of diabetes in these communities because of their access to certain foods is extraordinarily high. I just came out of the field, 58 percent of the adults in the town that I was just in had already diabetes or prediabetes, based on a household survey where we went house to house. This is the reality of America and so what I'm hoping is he brings his transparency for all Americans and we really start to tackle these issues one-by-one-by-one. I think everybody across America wants to have healthy kids that they know will grow up and not end up with the complications of diabetes or heart disease."
During the interview, Brennan and Birx talked about the declining vaccination rates in America, to which Brennan asked why Birx thinks there's a decline in vaccination, and she answered saying:
"I think there's two pieces to it. I think when we talk about things in public health, we don't acknowledge the concerns because when my children went to school, there was maybe one in 1000 kids with autism, diagnosed with autism. Now it's three per 100. So every mom is seeing a classroom of kindergarteners where one of the children has autism. That's scary to moms and dads, they want to know why. So it's not good enough for us to just say vaccines don't cause autism. It's us finding what is the cause of autism and reverse it..."
To watch more of Brennan's interview with Birx, click here.
