Aaron Siri, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s personal attorney, has petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to revoke its approval of the hepatitis B and polio vaccines, and block the distribution of 13 others.
Siri has reportedly been weighing in on which candidates will fill key positions in the Department of Health and Human Services, which Kennedy has been tapped to lead by President-elect Donald Trump. A partner at law firm Siri & Glimstad, the attorney also represented Kennedy, a prominent vaccine skeptic, during his failed presidential campaign.
Siri has long battled against the widespread prevalence of vaccines, though he recently said he did not wish to block access to those who want to get their shots.
“You want to get the vaccine — it’s America, a free country,” he told Arizona legislators last year while speaking about his concerns about the polio vaccine.
In 2022, Siri filed a petition on behalf of one of his clients, the Informed Consent Action Network, a nonprofit founded by Del Bigtree, another close Kennedy ally. In documents obtained by ABC News, Siri called on the FDA to “withdraw or suspend the approval for [the polio vaccine] for infants, toddlers, and children until a properly controlled and properly powered double-blind trial of sufficient duration is conducted to assess the safety of this product.”
The polio vaccine, which essentially eliminated the disease in the United States, is recommended for children, with three doses offering at least 99% protection against severe disease, including paralysis, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The agency noted that the best way to avoid the return of the virus is by way of vaccination.
Siri is also representing ICAN in its bid to force the FDA to “pause distribution” of 13 other vaccines — including combination products that cover tetanus, diphtheria and hepatitis A — until their makers disclose additional details about aluminum. The ingredient has been tied to a small increase in asthma cases, according to the New York Times.
Earlier this week, Trump said he and Kennedy are mulling investigations into some vaccinations over their long-discredited link to autism.
In 1998, a British doctor published research suggesting autism was caused by childhood vaccines, specifically the inoculation against mumps, measles and rubella. He was later banned from practicing medicine in the U.K. and his research, found to be critically flawed, was subsequently retracted.
Since then, hundreds of studies have ruled childhood vaccines to be safe.
