Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation hearing on January 29th exposed his ill-informed views on many health-related topics, including Lyme disease, pesticides, and vaccines. Given the ongoing efforts by the new administration to discredit science and public health, I want to take a closer look at what he has said regarding vaccines during the hearing, what he has said or done in the past, and what his potential confirmation means for public health.
During the hearing, Mr. Kennedy Jr. claimed that the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) approved COVID-19 vaccines “without any scientific basis.” This is not accurate. The vaccines for COVID-19 are among the most studied and scientifically tested vaccines in history, with several large clinical studies demonstrating that the health benefits of these vaccines, which include reducing the risk of death from infection by the virus, far outweigh any risks or side-effects. In fact, hospital data have shown that unvaccinated people are more than twice as likely to die from COVID-19, compared to people who have been vaccinated.
When asked by a senator if he would not hesitate to reassure parents that the hepatitis B and measles vaccines do not cause autism, Mr. Kennedy refused to do that, and avoided the question by saying, “if the data is there, I will absolutely do that.” In reality, there are decades and decades of research (yes, data!) by researchers in the U.S. and beyond that shows that there is no scientific link...
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