Robert Kennedy Jr. testifies Tuesday at the Vermont Statehouse. Credit: Terri Hallenbeck

Rep. Alice Miller was exuberant Tuesday afternoon. She’d just had her picture taken with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as he passed through the Statehouse.

“The Kennedys have been part of my life since I was 23,” said t

Mia Hockett, a Burlington doctor and mother, talks Tuesday at the Statehouse about the need for vaccinations. Her 4-year-old daughter, Merin, has leukemia, which compromises her immune system. Credit: Terri Hallenbeck

he 76-year-old Miller (D-Shaftsbury).

Many in the Statehouse were similarly star-struck Tuesday as the son of the late presidential candidate and nephew of the former president flew to Vermont for the afternoon. He was here to argue against removing a philosophical exemption that allows parents to skip vaccinations for their children. And the Kennedy mystique set him apart from others testifying before legislators.

Kennedy got an audience with Gov. Peter Shumlin and House Speaker Shap Smith. And he got the first slot to testify before the House Health Care Committee, which waited while he was a few minutes late.

His message: Don’t take vaccination decisions away from parents, because the federal government cannot be trusted to regulate the pharmaceutical industry.

“The only thing left that protects that child from that company — the only barrier standing — is the parent and now they want to take the parent away,” Kennedy told the House Health Care Committee. He has worked on the issue for 11 years, but his work has has been widely questioned. His main focus has been on thimerosal, a mercury-containing compound that has already been removed  or greatly reduced in childhood vaccines.

Kennedy was invited to Vermont by the Vermont Coalition of Vaccine Choice, which hopes to keep the House from removing the philosophical exemption. The Senate has already voted for removing the exemption. It’s unclear whether the House will vote on the highly charged issue this year. Three years ago, the House declined to do so, but sentiment on the issue has shifted toward mandatory vaccinations following measles outbreaks in California and Massachusetts.

  Mia Hockett, a Burlington doctor and mother, strongly urged House members to follow the Senate in removing the exemption. But Hockett struggled to get the attention Tuesday that Kennedy seemed to get just because he’s a Kennedy.

“I know that we’re not a big, shiny presidents’ nephew,” Hockett said, as reporters darted away from her news conference in pursuit of Kennedy. “But we’re Vermont moms.”

Hockett said she felt compelled to speak up for removing the state’s philosophical exemption when she realized others didn’t seem to understand the dangers unvaccinated children create for those with immune deficiencies. “I want to be able to give that personal story,” she said. 

Hockett’s 4-year-old daughter, Merin, has leukemia, which has compromised the girl’s immune system and put her at greater risk for catching diseases from other children who were not vaccinated. Through nine months of chemotherapy, Me

Mia Hockett’s daughter, Merin, looks at a poster that a group of Vermont mothers, including hers, put together to emphasize the importance of immunizations. Credit: Terri Hallenbeck

rin couldn’t go to pre-school, to the library or other public settings where she could be exposed to illness, her mother  said.

“She’s still very vulnerable, very compromised, but she’s well enough to go to school,” she said. “What we need to do for her right now is help her have a normal childhood.”

With Merin starting kindergarten next fall, her parents scoured immunization rates at Burlington’s elementary schools, and were disturbed to find rates in the 80 percent range. A low rate at the Integrated Arts Academy put that school off limits, so the family chose Champlain Elementary. “She has a right to go to school,” her mother said.

Hockett also testified before the House Health Care Committee on Tuesday after Kennedy swooped in and out, followed by cameras.

Dorian Yates of Strafford, a member of the Vermont Coalition of Vaccine Choice, said her group paid for Kennedy’s trip to Vermont. The group held a reception for Kennedy in the Statehouse cafeteria, where legislators and others milled around, snapping photos and sharing stories about Kennedy connections.

Rep. Miller said that despite her Kennedy fascination, she would be unswayed by his arguments. She planned to support removal of the philosophical exemption if the measure reaches the House floor.

Terri Hallenbeck was a Seven Days staff writer covering politics, the Legislature and state issues from 2014 to 2017.

9 replies on “Kennedy Wins Lawmakers’ Attention, If Not Their Votes”

  1. Why does some arrogant fool without any medical or scientific background get to testify before the House Healthcare Committee just because his last name is Kennedy? Which celebrity charlatan spouting totally-debunked “science” is the Vermont House going to swoon over next, Jenny McCarthy? A Vermont medical professional trying to testify is ignored while the legislators run to get their picture taken with a Kennedy who is rushing off to spread his nonsense in another state? The Vermont Legislature has totally embarrassed itself by allowing this person to testify. He is no more qualified than any member of the public pulled off the street while walking by the State House. This was a low moment for the Vermont Legislature, even by their own low standards.

  2. While Terri was at the special reception for Kennedy, she missed the testimony of a parent who lost her child to a flu vaccine and the testimony of a Calais Woman, a landscaper, who suffered for over a year unable to get out of bed from a known (by those who study the perils of some of these newer vaccines) reaction to her vaccine. While she won a settlement from the Federal agency developed in 1998 to compensate those who can prove vaccine injury, she will never be the same. Kennedy pointed out that because of the change of federal policy, neither pharmaceutical companies who make the vaccine nor medical professionals who inject them into their patients are liable when they fail. With no risk for these behemoth profit-generating corporations, every new vaccine represents potential billions of dollars in profits. From the mid 80s, when my youngest children were born to the years after this federal policy change the numbers of required vaccines have gone up from a handful to several dozens. Another little tidbit Kennedy reported yesterday afternoon is that “Big Pharma” has become a TRILLION dollar a year industry larger than the next two “industrial complexes”–Big Oil/ energy firms like Exxon-Mobile (that purchased scientist to generate false research & anti-climate change “studies” fed to PR flacks to generate a false debate about whether or not carbon in the atmosphere causes global climate change)), and the Military-Industrial complex (that bought us all the talking points generated by mass media to march us, most recently, into the Iraq war, just to name one). THIS IS THE PROBLEM. Kennedy flew in for a few hours was limited to 15 minutes–even as I am limited here to 300 words…. Go to the committee website, read the testimony, and think.

  3. Love the Jenny McCarthy mention. Jenny could show up to testify and bring Donnie Wahlberg with her. They could pass out free hamburgs to all the anti vaccine people – burgers full of beef grown with antibiotics.

  4. Common substances found in vaccines include:

    Aluminum gels or salts of aluminum which are added as adjuvants to help the vaccine stimulate a better response. Adjuvants help promote an earlier, more potent response, and more persistent immune response to the vaccine.
    Antibiotics which are added to some vaccines to prevent the growth of germs (bacteria) during production and storage of the vaccine. No vaccine produced in the United States contains penicillin.
    Egg protein is found in influenza and yellow fever vaccines, which are prepared using chicken eggs. Ordinarily, persons who are able to eat eggs or egg products safely can receive these vaccines.
    Formaldehyde is used to inactivate bacterial products for toxoid vaccines, (these are vaccines that use an inactive bacterial toxin to produce immunity.) It is also used to kill unwanted viruses and bacteria that might contaminate the vaccine during production. Most formaldehyde is removed from the vaccine before it is packaged.
    Monosodium glutamate (MSG) and 2-phenoxy-ethanol which are used as stabilizers in a few vaccines to help the vaccine remain unchanged when the vaccine is exposed to heat, light, acidity, or humidity.
    Thimerosal is a mercury-containing preservative that is added to vials of vaccine that contain more than one dose to prevent contamination and growth of potentially harmful bacteria.

    Once Dr’s and BIG PHARMA are held accountable for their actions, maybe just maybe they will stop pushing drugs into our lives. They are the ones that have caused the opiate/heron craze! One needs to take care of their immune system, not damage it, as all these lovely vaccines, drugs or germ killers do. Germs are your friend, not your enemy. If you eat right, exercise, drink water and get a good nights sleep, your body’s own defense is better than any medicine in the world.

  5. My 8 year old was advised not to include vaccinations for the issue around reactions and the hypothetical situation that he would suffer harm as stated medically. Though the way the drug industry has lobbied our own health department, my child’s doctor can’t get a medical exemption. The fact is that if my child, as has happened to other children in this state, had a severe vaccination reaction, including hospitalization with high fevers, seizures, etc, and eventually recovered, that child also could not get a medical exemption. Fact also there are children who have experienced multiple reactions and parents have decided for the life of the child. to seek presently the only remedy, the philosophical exemption. My child is one of 3 students in a school of 324 kids that are not using vaccinations. Myself as his dad, I had severe case of the measles after being vaccinated at age 5 (1965), and severe reaction to Hep B as a social worker in 1995 and was given exemption from needing the required 3 shots (that was before the change of requiring permanent injury). There were moderate problems with fevers and aches for days with other vaccinations growing up. There is likely a genetic connection passed on. Let’s revisit the medical exemption and finally return the criminal and financial liability that drug companies have avoided since 1986. We as tax payers have payed over 3 billion into the vaccination court that absolves the drug companies for their errors and bad politics.

  9. Mia Hackett’s daughter’s school is a mandatory medicine advocate’s dream come true. Some of the highest vax rates in the State, according to the Vermont Health Department’s web site:

    Champlain Elementary 2013 rates:

    DTap 98.2%

    Polio 96.9%

    MMR 97.9%

    HepB 95.4%

    Varicella 97.2%

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