Jake Auchincloss

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In a fiery debate about Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his stance on vaccines, Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-Mass.) urged his colleague, Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), to remember his pharmacist credentials.

During a roundtable on CNN’s Sunday episode of “State of the Union,” Auchincloss accused Kennedy of leading an “anti-vax crusade” as the head of Health and Human Services and demanded a House investigation into whether Kennedy’s radical overhaul of the nation’s vaccine policies was connected to the uptick in measles and whooping cough outbreaks.

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While Carter, who serves on the House’s Health subcommittee alongside Auchincloss, agreed that the surges in preventable illnesses warranted an official inquiry, he refused to pin any responsibility on Kennedy.

“I believe RFK Jr. is doing his job, and I applaud him for doing his job,” Carter said.

Auchincloss was floored that Carter, who holds a pharmacy degree and has owned his own drugstore for decades, could support Kennedy:

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Carter argued that vaccine mandates, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic, were an affront to Americans, their personal freedom and bodily autonomy. Auchincloss then asked whether he was denying that the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine was safe and effective.

“We cannot force people into doing things; we have to give them a choice, based on education,” Carter said before conceding that he “obviously” believes the shots are both safe and effective.

When Auchincloss asked Carter to publicly vouch for the vaccine to parents, the Georgia lawmaker doubled down on the individual liberty angle.

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“You know this is the kind of rhetoric that we hear from the Democratic Party that causes people to be upset,” he said.