WASHINGTON – Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a polio survivor, responded critically Friday to a report in The New York Times that a key lawyer and longtime adviser to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. once wrote at the Food and Drug Administration had requested the approval of the polio vaccine be revoked.

Kennedy, who was chosen by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, is a longtime critic of childhood vaccinations and has baselessly linked the widespread use of vaccines to the rise of autism in children.

McConnell, still dealing with the effects of the disease as a child, said the vaccine has saved lives and any attempt to stand in the way of its availability would be a grave mistake.

“The polio vaccine saved millions of lives and delivered on the promise of eradicating a terrible disease,” McConnell said in a statement to NBC News. “Efforts to undermine public trust in proven remedies are not just uninformed – they are dangerous.”

According to the Times, Aaron Siri is currently an adviser to Kennedy working to identify candidates for federal health care positions. Siri filed the petition in 2022 as a representative of the Informed Consent Action Network. The anti-vaccine organization is close to Kennedy.

A Kennedy spokeswoman confirmed to The New York Times that Siri was advising Kennedy, but that the two men had not discussed his request to revoke approval of the polio vaccine.

In his statement, McConnell made it clear that he will fight to protect access to the polio vaccine.

“I have never shied away from taking on spurious disinformation that threatens the progress of life-saving medical advances, and I will not do so today.”

Despite his active anti-vaccine campaign, Kennedy said in an interview with NBC News before he was announced as Trump’s nominee for HHS that he would not try to “take away anyone’s vaccines.”

But he went on to say he intends to conduct a thorough review of the way the life-saving drugs are brought to market.

“If vaccines work for someone, I will not take them away. People should have a choice, and that choice should be based on the best information,” he said. “That’s why I will ensure that there are scientific studies on safety and effectiveness and that people can judge individually whether the product is good for them.”

In his statement, McConnell never mentions Kennedy by name, but says that anyone seeking confirmation before the Senate must be clear about their intentions related to the polio vaccine.

“Anyone seeking Senate approval to serve in the new administration would do well to avoid even the appearance of a connection to such efforts,” McConnell wrote.

Kennedy is expected on Capitol Hill next week to meet with senators.

McConnell will leave his post as the Senate’s top Republican in January but remains an influential leader in the House. It might be difficult for a candidate to overcome resistance.