National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya appeared before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on Tuesday to discuss modernizing his agency.
Toward the end of the hearing, however, the topic of conversation veered into questions over why the Trump administration seemed so focused on remaking U.S. public health policy to resemble that of Denmark.
In January, the Trump administration reduced the number of recommended vaccines on the Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule, saying at the time that it was aligning with other peer nations like Denmark.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his allies are fond of pointing to Denmark when discussing vaccine guidance, noting that the Scandinavian country has a higher degree of public trust in its public health policies while also recommending fewer childhood vaccines.
When questioned by Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester (D-Del.) on Tuesday about the updated immunization schedule, Bhattacharya reiterated that the U.S. was reflecting Denmark in order to boost public confidence.
"It was just strange to me that we're comparing ourselves to Denmark as a peer nation. Denmark has 6 million people. We have 340 million people from all walks of life. That's like 57 times larger," Blunt Rochester said, noting the many ways in which Denmark's health care system differs from the one in the U.S.
HELP Committee Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.) joined in on this line of questioning immediately after.
"There are sections of our country that look like Denmark, in which a highly educated folks who have easy access to vaccination," Cassidy said. "If you're wealthy from Boston, you're going to have one experience. And if you're less wealthy, if you're poor from a rural town in Louisiana, you're going to have another."
Pounding the hearing table, Cassidy said modeling the U.S. policy after Denmark's did not account for the needs of the poor.
"I have to admit, I was kind of like, 'What? We're like Denmark?' I was just kind of like that's a crazy idea," he said.
