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CBS News’ Face the Nation rolled out a blast from our COVID-19 past, Dr. Deborah Birx, in its efforts to campaign against the selection of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.

Host Margaret Brennan succeeded in getting Birx to agree there was “no scientific evidence basis” for Kennedy’s suggestion that vaccines are causing autism, but somewhat surprisingly, the former White House coronavirus response coordinator said she was “excited” about RFK Jr.’s Senate confirmation hearing because it should result in an open discussion about vaccines and the health of Americans.

As for Kennedy’s so-called controversial stance on vaccines, Birx pointed out that he was not alone because many Americans believe it is a problem.

“When my children went to school there was maybe 1-in-1000 kids with autism diagnosed. Now it’s 3-per-100,” she said. “So, every mom is seeing a classroom of kindergartners 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.”

“That’s why when he talks about transparency, I’m actually excited that in a Senate hearing, he would bring forward his data, and the questions that come from the senators would bring forth their data,” Birx said. “What I know for sure is he’s a very smart man who can bring his data and his evidence base forward and we can have a discussion.”

Looking back on the COVID-19 vaccine experience, Birx suggested better messaging would have helped the American people accept it better.

“I think what has confused people is we weren’t clear about what COVID vaccines do and don’t,” she said. “And so now people are questioning, well, what my childhood vaccines do and don’t. And they don’t understand that some of the vaccines that their children are getting protect them from both diseases and create herd immunity. And some of them that they get are just for their child, like H Flu and Pneumovax to prevent their child from getting a very serious illness.”

“And we’re just not explaining all of this correctly,” Birx added.

Birx said Kennedy’s potential appointment could depend on the team he surrounds himself with.

“I think the most important thing is what team he would bring with them, 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 duplications between these agencies to really become more cost-effective,” she said.

Here’s a quick sampling of responses to the story, as seen on X:

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