National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program paid out $5.4 billion so far
Don’t worry. Bobby’s doing fine, his wife Cheryl Hines said last week in an appearance on the MAHA Action ‘Media Hub.’
“A lot of people, especially recently, have asked me how Bobby is handling some of the attacks that come at him,” Hines said on the weekly podcast. “We see hit pieces in the press, and I’m here to tell you, he takes it in stride. Bobby has one of the strongest wills of anyone I know and hit piece attacks don’t bother him. In fact, it only makes him stronger and it makes him more determined.”
The weekend before, The New York Times ran a long article under the headline: “Kennedy Shows Minimal Engagement with Vast Health Portfolio,” reporting that the Secretary of HHS shows “little interest in managing the details of his department” and instead is “single-mindedly focused on his top priorities” – which the article listed as food, pesticides and vaccines. It was a hit piece, but one that probably had many of his supporters cheering, knowing that the man in charge of public health is focused on these three huge issues and not getting pulled into the weeds of managing a federal agency with an annual budget of more than $3 trillion.
Kennedy, Hines said, knows that when you have truth on your side, it’s very powerful.
“It’s a very big job, I don’t have to tell you that,” said Hines. “But the work that Bobby is doing, the work that Dr. Oz is doing, it’s important. It could be disheartening because there are so many attacks and there are so many people coming at them. But, the strength of MAHA is like a force field around them.”
During the podcast, Hines also shared news of big MAHA wins around ultra processed foods. “I was just in his office yesterday, and [Special Advisor to HHS Secretary Kennedy] Calley Means came in and said, for the first time in over a decade obesity is down in America,” she said. “The obesity rate is down. [Bobby] also said that Americans are buying less ultra-processed food. So we are seeing results. We are seeing engagement. We are seeing the messaging getting out to people regardless of what the press is saying or what the attacks might be. Real progress is being made and it’s because of you. So I wanna thank you for that.”
In March, on The Outkick podcast, Hines addressed the outlandishness of the attacks on her husband and what he’s trying to accomplish at HHS.
“It’s really ridiculous for anyone to fight against wanting to remove petroleum-based dyes in food, or wanting to remove arsenic in baby formula,” she said.
The work that Kennedy is doing, she added, shouldn’t be controversial.
“We’re talking about people’s health. Either you’re happy that the U.S. is now paying lower pharmaceutical drug prices or you’re just angry about politics and you’re just never going to say you’re happy about that.”
At the MAHA Action event at the Ned last month, Hines made a point about the MAHA movement transcending partisanship.
“I love that the MAHA moms, they don’t care if you are a Republican, if you’re a Democrat, if you’re an independent,” she said. “They care about the policies that are being made that are impacting their families’ health. They are unstoppable, and I think Washington, D.C. will verify that because they are feeling it and they’re putting a lot of heat on the right people at the right time and I am really very, very proud of them.”
Cheryl Hines of course is the internationally recognized actress and comedian who co-starred on the hit show “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” playing the wife of comedian Larry David for all 12 seasons that the show aired on CBS.
It was television host Joy Behar who stepped in and brought up the issue of vaccines, pressing Hines on her views.
Hines replied that the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has paid out $5.4 billion for vaccine injuries since its inception.
“Yes, they are important and they are an important part of our health care,” she said about vaccines. “Can we do better? Can we make them safer? Can we listen to parents who say, ‘My child got the vaccine and changed, and stopped hitting markers and stopped developing the way they were developing’? Can we listen to people when they say that instead of saying, ‘you’re crazy’?”
Hines was widely praised for this careful and thoughtful response, and for asking that parents with vaccine-injured children be heard and respected, instead of being dismissed.
