When RFK Jr. Was Presented With the Science on Vaccines He Said He Needed to See, He Dismissed It

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    Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President Donald Trump's nominee to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services, testifies during a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing for his pending confirmation on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)

    WASHINGTON (AP) — The man who hopes to be President Donald Trump’s health secretary repeatedly asked to see “data” or “science” showing vaccines are safe – but when an influential Republican senator did so, he dismissed it.

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    Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spent two days this week insisting to senators that he’s not anti-vaccine. He said that he instead supports vaccinations and will follow the science in overseeing the $1.7 trillion Department of Health and Human Services, which, among other duties, oversees vaccine research, approval and recommendations.

    But Kennedy repeatedly refused to acknowledge scientific consensus that childhood vaccines don’t cause autism and that COVID-19 vaccines saved millions of lives, and he falsely asserted the government has no good vaccine safety monitoring. While appearing to ignore mainstream science, he cited flawed or tangential research to make his points, such as suggesting Black people may need different vaccines than whites.

    His responses raised concern among health experts that Kennedy lacks basic skills needed for the job.

    “He ignores science. He cherry-picks sometimes fraudulent studies. Sometimes he takes well-done studies and takes little pieces of them out of context,” said Dr. Sean O’Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

    He worries that Kennedy could further damage public confidence in vaccines and “we will see return of diseases that we really haven’t seen much of and unfortunately children will suffer.”

    Kennedy “in many ways demonstrated his lack of capacity to really understand some details around science and evidence that I think he would really need to know,” said Dr. Georges Benjamin of the American Public Health Association.

    The science on vaccines is clear to doctors and scientists — but not to Kennedy
    Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and physician, said the science is clear that measles and other childhood vaccines are safe and not linked to autism.

    Kennedy said if shown the data he would recommend those vaccines and “not only will I do that but I will apologize for any statements that misled people otherwise.”

    So Cassidy pulled out and read aloud definitive scientific conclusions that vaccines don’t cause autism. Kennedy rebuffed him, instead mentioning a recent paper that outside experts have called fundamentally flawed — and Cassidy agreed “has some issues” – in an attempt to counter decades of rigorous studies.

    The senator told Kennedy his history of “undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments concerns me” – and risks casting “a shadow over President Trump’s legacy” if people die of vaccine-preventable diseases should he become health secretary.

    Sen. Maggie Hassan, a Democrat from New Hampshire, said there’s a real-world ramification for “re-litigating and churning settled science” – diverting money and time that could be spent finding the real cause of autism.

    Kennedy ignored science showing COVID-19 vaccines saved millions of lives
    Kennedy claimed there’s no good surveillance system to know that COVID-19 vaccines are safe and lifesaving.

    The U.S. tracks vaccine safety through multiple monitoring systems including electronic medical records from a list of health systems. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also checks how vaccines fare internationally, such as during the pandemic when large databases from Israel and the U.K. helped reinforce that the new mRNA vaccines were safe and lowering deaths from the coronavirus.

    “You’re applying for the job — clearly you should know this,” said Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. “The scientific community has established that COVID vaccines saved millions of lives and you’re casting doubt.”

    Kennedy declines to back a vaccine that prevents cancer in women
    AAP’s O’Leary said there are about 35,000 cases of cancer related to the HPV virus that could be prevented by that vaccine, including 4,000 deaths per year. “We are already seeing decreases in the number of cases of HPV-related cancers as a result of HPV vaccination.”

    Kennedy didn’t answer directly when asked if he stood by claims that the HPV vaccine could cause cancer or other disease. He instead brought up a pending lawsuit and suggested a jury — of non-scientists — would decide.

    Kennedy’s unfounded comment about race and vaccine schedules
    Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, a Maryland Democrat, asked Kennedy about prior comments that Black people might need a different vaccination schedule than whites. Alsobrooks, who is Black, asked how Kennedy thought she should have been vaccinated differently.

    Kennedy referred to some earlier papers suggesting people of African-American ancestry had a stronger immune response to measles and rubella vaccines than white people.

    Vaccination recommendations aren’t based on race but on biological factors such as someone’s age and risk of a specific disease. Some studies show Black Americans are more hesitant than whites to receive certain vaccines.

    “That is so dangerous,” Alsobrooks told Kennedy.

    “There’s no evidence that there needs to be a different vaccine schedule based on race,” said Dr. Amesh Adalja of the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. Such statements could make different populations wrongly believe “well, maybe I don’t need as many vaccines” as are recommended.

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    82 Comments
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    Ari
    Ari
    18 days ago

    I am vaccinated, as well as all of my kids. And I always thought that the “vaccines cause autism” theory was just a bunch of loonies talking. But then came the Covid vaccines, and the lies the government and their experts said about them. To my mind it cast doubt on everything else they said about vaccines. I began listening to people more, such as my neighbor, who said that their autistic teen son was a normal child until 5 years old, when he had a reaction to vaccinations. So I am definitely open to the theory; researching the issues is more complicated than the Hamas-AP makes it sound. And if my kids would not vaccinate their kids (so far they do), I would totally understand.

    Yehuda
    Yehuda
    18 days ago

    Wow VIN, you just copy and paste whatever fake propaganda you can get your hands on from the AP with literally zero vetting process, don’t you.

    SL6000
    SL6000
    17 days ago

    Who exactly wrote this article. It is suspicious. It really takes one side and ignores the reports of extensive bad effects of certain recent vaccines.

    Moishe k
    Moishe k
    18 days ago

    He is 100% right in everything he said nobody ever disproved any of his claims by the way, you can say conspiracy theory, you can say whatever you want but just propagating again the claim “vaccines are safe and affective” does not prove anything.
    He brings up legitimate questions, the fact is the USA is the sickest population, but everything is safe all the food is safe all the vaccines are safe and no need to investigate, how dumb do you have to be to not research again everything, and get to the bottom of why our kids are so sick, we all know the truth, nobody is interested in making our kids healthy again there are huge profits to make with a sick population.

    Noach
    Noach
    17 days ago

    Most of the evidence against MMR is pure anecdotal (parents swearing their children regression after a jab), thus not scientific. Nevertheless, much of the “science” even for some legacy vaccines is very far from gold standard: RCT with actual placebo (real saline) in control group since they trial them against other vaccines. What’s needed to regain trust especially after the C19 PublicHealt debacle, either via RFK or some other HHS Joe Shmo is: 1.TRANSPARENCY (full unredacted trial data in public doamin), 2.ACCOUNTABILITY (Pharma pays for ALL medical adverse events) 3.UNBIASED REPORTING (ban Pharma ads like most countries)

    Democrats support mutilating confused teens.
    Democrats support mutilating confused teens.
    18 days ago

    Maggie Hasan is a brainless twit, first she says that science can be wrong, then she says that questioning science is bad, she also called it settled science which is a made up term that actually stifles scientific discovery.

    Sara
    Sara
    18 days ago

    Kennedy is not an idiot and he’s not misinformed
    The study that clearly disproves the autism connection does not exist.
    There is evidence that the one study that “disproves” the autism link, which BTW was just for one vaccine (MMR) not the entire vaccine schedule , was data manipulated until the connection dissolved into the ether.
    Non vaxxers are asking for a study comparing the health outcomes of vaccinated vs unvaccinated and there are none to date. We also want data analyzed from vaxxed vs unvaxxed kids and the authorities won’t do it.
    We want placebo control studies on vaccines (not studies in which the control group gets a different vaccine, which is currently being done for all vaccine studies). Simply put
    The science right now supports vaccines because the people funding those studies make sure they do the studies they want, how they want, to get the results they want. Bad science does not equal truth so Kennedy is walking a fine line because he’s saying truth but it goes against “science”

    Rabbi carp of chabad
    Rabbi carp of chabad
    18 days ago

    Hello! When is the last time you asked, “what does the director of whatever the heck” say about vaccines? Arent we told to follow and ask our doctors?

    So who cares if kennedy is right or wrong?

    (He is right btw)

    Dr. Alex Morales
    Dr. Alex Morales
    15 days ago

    As a public health official, I personally documented extensive and deliberate purging of the VAERS database during the release of the initial rollout of the experimental mRNA therapies deployed to contain the COVID-19 pandemic. I also received communication from the CDC and NIH strongly discouraging the promotions of any off-label therapeutics due to the conflicts with the Emergency Use provisions of the novel vaccines, which if acknowledged, would immediately pull their Emergency Use status. Further to this, I communicated with health care providers and it was brought to my attention that hospital administration prevented the uploading of data to VAERS shortly after the rollout in efforts to suppress public knowledge of adverse events including myocarditis, anaphylaxis, rapid onset autoimmune disorders including VAIDS (vaccine induced auto immune disorder, yes vaccine induced AIDS), bells palsy, and what has become known as “turbo-cancer” in otherwise healthy individuals. The public should also consider that there have been no long term safety studies of childhood vaccines, and the entire class of drugs are immune to litigation related to safety and efficacy. That said, vaccines are a miracle and save lives, the question is not one of the injection of attenuated viruses, but one of preservatives and additives designed to extend shelf life, negate the need for refrigeration, and bring down costs for mass distribution. Few outside the medical community, and startlingly few within the proscribing community of physicians are aware that vaccine additives differ by price tier, for the same disease – children on free or reduced cost insurance receive a very different and less expensive vaccine than affluent children who have private insurance. There are terrifying conflicts of interests between the regulatory agencies and the big pharmaceutical companies they are charged with regulating, each serve as pipelines for employment between the other. JFK JR should be confirmed, if only to expose this criminally negligent activity and completely reform the regulatory environment to restore faith in vaccines and public health in general.

    Zushe
    Zushe
    17 days ago

    Please do better than reposting the AP. There is considerably more nuance in the subject of the Covid vaccine than this.

    Dr. Alex Morales
    Dr. Alex Morales
    15 days ago

    “The Science” = “this study is brought to you by Pfizer, safe and effective”

    Eli
    Eli
    15 days ago

    That article is misinformation of the worst type. Scientific consensus is not science! It means a large number of so called scientist make the same claim with no proof. It is the fallacy of saying that since so many people say this, it must be true!!

    RFK at the minimum wants pre-licensing safety studies, something that has never been done for any of the 72 vaccines on the schedule, something that is required for all medicines. He also points out the astonishing research of the health of the unvaccinated Amish, mind blowing.
    Though the biggest reason why there is ZERO scientific evidence for vaccines is because there is ZERO evidence of viruses, viruses have never been studied since they have never been isolated. Everything about viruses are just models and computer simulations. Its all propaganda and these beliefs have been stuffed down everyone’s throats their whole life. Wake up and study the scientific history and proofs for viruses.
    I happen to believe that viruses were pushed since it aligns with evolution, the kefira of organisms always fighting and survival of the fittest.

    Common sense
    Common sense
    18 days ago

    the $1.7 trillion Department of Health and Human Services

    Anonymous
    Anonymous
    17 days ago

    Always Pathetic AP

    Shloimy
    Shloimy
    17 days ago

    Never forget operation warp speed

    lostinCA
    lostinCA
    18 days ago

    a guy who doesn’t know the difference between medicare part A,B,C should not be leading the agency that runs it.
    he is totally unqualified for this postion.

    anaymous
    anaymous
    18 days ago

    The Dept of HHS should be led by a qualified Medical Professional with legal/business acuman. There ae many physicians with law degrees, MBAs or all 3. There are many qulified non physician health care professionals/adminstrators available. RFK jr is TOTALLY NOT QUALIFIED to led HHS. President Trump has made some very good choices for cabinet posts, however this is NOT ONE of them. Hopefully RFK jr will not pass confirmation.

    Yankel-der-ganef
    Yankel-der-ganef
    18 days ago

    Kennedy is at total nut job that is not interested in science. He only trusts those that few papers that confirm his beliefs. It’s called confirmation bias.

    Bill Smith
    Bill Smith
    17 days ago

    Reading these comments makes me embarrassed to be a frum Jew. When did you all become crazy?

    Karine Jean-Pierre
    Karine Jean-Pierre
    18 days ago

    Bring back Rachel Levine.

    william weiss
    william weiss
    17 days ago

    Using the COVID shot as a means to discredit all vaccines is wrong. It’s comparing apples to goldfish. It’s akin to saying one incorrect psak makes every psak from that posek suspicious. We don’t do such a thing.
    Andrew Wakefield never did the precise research he claimed linked autism to vaccines. His “report” was based on a biased sample that he chose and prepared for plaintiff’s attorneys to use in lawsuits – for which he was paid very well.

    Paul Near Philadelphia
    Paul Near Philadelphia
    18 days ago

    On television, Kennedy looks very ill.

    Ian Belson
    Ian Belson
    18 days ago

    I hope that they have the guts to say no to this clearly unqualified individual.