We all know how anti-vaccine RFK Jr. is, and he was downplaying the measles outbreak in Texas just last week.
Now he is calling the measles outbreak a “call to action” and telling people they need to get the MMR vaccine! This was in an opinion-editorial piece on FoxNews.com over the weekend.
“Kennedy, who has previously promoted widely circulated theories linking vaccines to autism, struck a different tone in his Fox News piece, writing: ‘Vaccines not only protect individual children from measles, but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons.'”
“Receiving routine vaccinations against common infections like tetanus, shingles, and pneumonia may offer an unexpected benefit: a reduced risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease later in life.
“A study published in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease in 2023 found that older adults who received these vaccines were less likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease compared to their unvaccinated peers over an eight-year period.
“This research adds to a growing body of evidence suggesting that vaccinations could play a role in protecting against this devastating brain disease.”
A description of the actual research study and more links are available at the article below:
To get the votes he needed for confirmation, RFK Jr. promised that he would not change the children’s vaccine schedule.
Now, in his first speech to the Health & Human Services employees (the ones who are still left after he fired thousands of them last weekend), this anti-vax leader of our country’s public health promised that he WOULD investigate the children’s vaccine schedule! “Nothing is going to be off limits!”
And, of course, this statement was made while West Texas is having a measles outbreak among unvaccinated people. 🙄
This man has no place in U.S. public health. He has claimed that he has no intention of dismantling the childhood vaccination program, but it’s so much more than that!
They seriously want to put someone in charge of the country’s public health who does not believe the scientists, the experts, and doesn’t believe that vaccines are safe and effective! Even though experts across the board have dismissed his claims.
There are so many things wrong with this! Here are some of the problems, just on the subject of health and medicine:
He still claims that vaccines cause autism.
He claimed that the COVID-19 virus was genetically engineered to target white people and to spare Jewish and Chinese people.
He promoted using ivermectin as a treatment for COVID and enriched himself through that.
He perpetuated myths about vaccination with “an utter disregard for the evidence”.
He claims that fluoride in American drinking water is causing arthritis, bone cancer, and much more, even though the very low levels of fluoride have not been associated with any of that.
He has made MILLIONS of dollars from supporting anti-vax propaganda by helping sue companies that make vaccines.
He made roughly $10 MILLION just this year used his work for an anti-vaccine nonprofit and he only left that position to try to become HHS Secretary.
He has written books that have spread falsehoods about vaccine safety and other health issues.
While ignoring mainstream science, he cited flawed or tangential research to make his points, such as suggesting Black people may need different vaccines than whites.
During the COVID pandemic, he made numerous public statements about “chemtrails,” saying that the world is being poisoned with evil chemicals from jet planes.
Since 2015 he has been an anti-vaccine activist.
He has rejected established science showing H.I.V. causes AIDS.
He claimed without evidence that chemicals in drinking water were altering children’s gender and sexual identities.
Like so many in Trump’s administration, he is making money from his role. He has already made over $100,000 just from the MAHA merchandise (Make America Healthy Again).
He has also received substantial support from activists who have spread misinformation about the coronavirus and vaccines.
In 2019, he helped spread misinformation about the safety of the measles vaccine to people in Samoa, which led to dozens of children’s deaths.
When confronted about his disinformation, he always backtracks and says he’s not “condemning it outright, but just saying they should be looked into.” That’s a form of sealioning, where someone harasses or trolls people by making wild claims or relentlessly asking basic or unrelated questions and then, when confronted about it, says: “I’m just asking a question.”
He repeatedly asked for evidence that vaccines are safe, and then when he saw it, he dismissed it.
“He ignores science. He cherry-picks sometimes fraudulent studies. Sometimes he takes well-done studies and takes little pieces of them out of context.”
Senator Elizabeth Warren, during RFK’s hearing, pointed out these various things that he could do while Secretary of the $1.7 trillion Department of Health & Human Services:
He could appoint people to the CDC vaccine panel who share his anti-vax views and let them do his dirty work.
He could tell the CDC vaccine panel to remove a particular vaccine from the vaccine schedule.
He could remove vaccines from special compensation programs, which would open up manufacturers to mass torts.
He could make more injuries eligible for compensation even if there’s no causal evidence.
He could change vaccine court processes to make it easier to bring junk lawsuits.
He could turn over FDA data to his friends at the law firm, and they could use it however it benefitted them.
He could change vaccine labelling.
He could change vaccine information rules.
He could change which claims are compensated in the vaccine injury compensation program.
A letter was delivered to the U.S. Senate in the attempt to build support for RFK, Jr., an incredible danger to American public health. It was called “Doctors for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.”. The letter said it was sent by physicians who supported him as the next Secretary of Health & Human Services.
The problem? Many of the names were of doctors who have had their licenses revoked, suspended, or faced other discipline. At least 75 were nurses, not doctors, and more than 90 of the “signers” did not have any medical credentials at all.
“The AP found that in addition to the physicians who had faced disciplinary action, many of the nearly 800 signers are not doctors. The letter with the names of those who signed was provided to the AP by Sen. Ron Johnson’s office after he entered it into the Congressional Record on Wednesday during the first of Kennedy’s two confirmation hearings.”
“U.S. public health officials have been told to stop working with the World Health Organization, effective immediately. 🤬
“A U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention official, John Nkengasong, sent a memo to senior leaders at the agency on Sunday night telling them that all agency staff who work with the WHO must immediately stop their collaborations and ‘await further guidance.’
“Experts said the sudden stoppage was a surprise and would set back work on investigating and trying to stop outbreaks of Marburg virus and mpox in Africa, as well as brewing threats from around the world. It also comes as health authorities around the world are monitoring bird flu outbreaks among U.S. livestock.
“The memo also says CDC staff are not allowed to visit WHO offices.”
I have always felt that the opinions of the nominee to head public health were dangerous. Like an actual danger to the public health of the American people.
Now 77 Nobel Prize winners have asked the Senate to reject Kennedy’s nomination!
“The letter, published Monday by the New York Times, said putting Kennedy in charge of the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees agencies handling food and drug safety, disease epidemics and health insurance would ‘put the public’s health in jeopardy.’
“The authors pointed to Kennedy’s opposition to the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine and the polio vaccine. Kennedy is a leading proponent of the discredited theory that childhood vaccines cause autism. President-elect Trump said Sunday he would ask Kennedy to look into what is causing autism because ‘something is going on.'”
“Universal healthcare coverage in the U.S. would have saved hundreds of thousands of lives as well as hundreds of billions of dollars through the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new analysis.
“Researchers from the Yale School of Public Health and other institutions estimated that in 2020 alone, more than 131,000 COVID deaths and almost 78,000 excess non-COVID deaths would have been averted with broader nationwide coverage and saved the U.S. over $459 billion in 2020.”
Of all the insane picks Trump has made, this one has the greatest possibility of seriously hurting the American people, and right away, not just in the long term.
RFK Jr. has been nominated to be Secretary of Health and Human Services. That would mean he would oversee HHS, the CDC, the NIH, the FDA, and more.
Why is this a problem? Because RFK Jr. is totally unqualified, believes vaccines are dangerous and ineffective, and he has spread plenty of DEBUNKED conspiracy theories about vaccines and medicine in general. He is anti-science and anti-vax. He directly contradicts the science-based research of most scientists and medical experts. He said that chemicals in the water were turning children gay! And he claimed that COVID-19 was “ethnically targeted” to spare Jewish and Chinese people!
He has already said he wants to fire 600 people in the National Institutes of Health. Regarding the CDC, Trump was bad enough, undermining their research and preventing them from saying what needed to be said. RFK Jr. would ruin the CDC.
“The mission of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is to enhance the health and well-being of all Americans, by providing for effective health and human services and by fostering sound, sustained advances in the sciences underlying medicine, public health, and social services.”
RFK Jr. stands OPPOSITE this mission!
Here are a few quotes from people who understand:
“Robert F Kennedy Jr is a clear and present danger to the nation’s health. He shouldn’t be allowed in the building at the department of health and human services (HHS), let alone be placed in charge of the nation’s public health agency.”
“Donald Trump’s bungling of public health policy during the Covid pandemic cost hundreds of thousands of lives. By appointing Kennedy as his secretary of HHS, Trump is courting another, policy-driven public health catastrophe.”
“He’s a vaccine denier and a tin foil hat conspiracy theorist. He will destroy our public health infrastructure and our vaccine distribution systems. This is going to cost lives.”
“It is hard to overstate what a terrible decision this is. RFK Jr has no medical training. He is a hardcore anti-vaccine and misinformation peddler. The last time he meddled in a state’s medical affairs (Samoa), 83 children died of measles.”
And he claimed that COVID-19 was “ethnically targeted” to spare Jewish and Chinese people! 