"There's no vaccine that is safe and effective."
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., 2023
This was originally published in COVID and Vaccine Update on November 18, 2024, after the presidential election when it was clear that Robert Kennedy, Jr., would be nominated to head Health and Human Services (HHS).
It should be read in light of what's happened since he took over HHS, including his vacillating positioning on vaccination in the current measles outbreak, the forced resignation of Peter Marks from overseeing vaccine regulations at FDA, and the cancelation/postponement of FDA and CDC advisory meetings on vaccines.
Although Kennedy is well known for being anti-vaccine, he is also anti-expertise, which is even more alarming for a leader of the 13-agency federal health enterprise that includes NIH, FDA, CDC, and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). He has threatened to remove “expertise” (his quote) from these agencies, which have responsibilities ranging from medical research to vetting the safety and effectiveness of vaccines and other drugs to providing healthcare through Medicare and Obamacare.
• Vaccine opposition based on fraud Kennedy’s anti-vaccine stance is commonly known from his claim that vaccines cause autism, in which he ignores/denies the data from multiple large studies (including 500,000 to over 1 million kids) that have refuted the small (12 kids) scientifically flawed and fraudulent study in 1998 of the MMR measles vaccine in England. The study has been used by vaccine opponents despite its retraction by co-authors and the journal (Mayo Clinic, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, FactCheck.org, NOVA-PBS). In fact, the lead author lost his medical license for the fraudulent use of data in the study.
• Reckless promotion of falsehood Although a personal opinion, however wrong, could just be a harmless opinion, Kennedy has used it to fatal effect. On Samoa in 2018, the measles vaccine was accidentally prepared with another drug, causing 2 kids to die. Kennedy and his Children’s Health Defense helped to use the mistake to persuade island parents to refuse the vaccine, which led to an epidemic the following year killing 83, mostly kids (Mother Jones, FactCheck.org).
Kennedy’s anti-vaccine campaign and those of others have generated public distrust of vaccines that was amplified against COVID vaccines and has affected the childhood vaccination program in the US. In 2019, 16% of adults opposed vaccine requirements for kids to enter kindergarten, which rose to 28% in 2021 (Kaiser Family Foundation). Although likely a backlash to COVID mandates, this opposition could solidify with an anti-vaccine leader at HHS.
The target vaccine coverage to provide community protection in kindergarten is 95%, which was met by the kids starting school in the fall of 2019 (CDC). Then it dropped for the next 4 years to 92% last year when the vaccination rate for measles (MMR) and polio, two of the most contagious diseases, fell below 93%. In Idaho, it was 80%.
• Conspiracy replacing science Kennedy, who is a lawyer in environmental law, also promotes bizarre conspiracy “theories,” such as the COVID virus was invented to infect White and Black people and to spare Jews (even specifically the Ashkenazi) and the Chinese (PolitiFact, FactCheck.org). In litigating environmental law, he should have knowledge of the scientific evidence required to demonstrate the harm of environmental contaminants. Yet he indulges in unsubstantiated conspiracies that aren’t even tested theories in place of the scientific method by which hypotheses are tested rigorously.
His subscription to the ethnic bioweapon conspiracy exposes his lack of scientific training, experience, and expertise to properly draw valid conclusions from data. Instead, he has indicated he will replace scientific expertise at HHS agencies, such as NIH, FDA, and CDC (AP).
• Potential damage to vaccines What could Kennedy specifically do to vaccine work at the agencies? He could remove the agency expertise that does not align with the policies he wants to implement. In addition to his threat to fire lab scientists at NIH, he could disrupt the authorization and approval of vaccines by inserting anti-vaccine members on ACIP, the CDC advisors who make the recommendations for vaccine usage. This could bring contentious meetings in the future.
Update has covered ACIP meetings for almost four years, and it has been clear the members are conscientious in evaluating the data and weighing benefit and risk to make the recommendations for providing the public with safe and effective vaccines. The same applies to VRBPAC, FDA’s advisors who make the recommendations for the vaccine authorizations and licenses.
Here’s where Kennedy’s ignorance is exposed. One of his main criticisms against FDA and CDC is that regulatory decisions are compromised by conflicts of interest with the vaccine manufacturers. In fact, any conflicts are declared before committee meetings and anyone with a conflict is excluded from voting. Companies report their data for the committee to evaluate and their representatives only appear as “witnesses” at meetings. In addition, companies have to comply with agency requests to successfully obtain authorizations.
Kennedy could also try to pull vaccine authorizations and approvals, because he claims there are no safe vaccines. Although the Supreme Court recently reversed the long-standing Chevron doctrine, which deferred to agency expertise (Update July 1), it could still be difficult for Kennedy to remove vaccines.
Again, Kennedy’s ignorance and lack of experience and expertise in this area are exposed. As proof that vaccines are not safe, he points to the thousands of adverse events reported in databases such as FDA/CDC’s VAERS (Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System), which is one of several databases to monitor incidents following vaccinations for potential safety issues. However, all reports ranging from itching to death are included without being vetted to demonstrate a causal link to vaccines. When the events are investigated and even when a rare safety issue pops up, the agencies take action.
As reported in Update, when temporary myocarditis was found to occur rarely in males 12 to 39 years old shortly after Pfizer, Moderna, and Novavax jabs, CDC recommended a longer 2-month interval between doses for young males.
When rare blood clotting occurred in 30- to 49-year-old females after the Janssen DNA jab, usage was paused to investigate and the manufacturer eventually asked FDA to pull the authorization. Another DNA vaccine by AstraZeneca was never authorized in the US.
So whereas agency and company are doing due diligence, Kennedy is misinterpreting the safety reports that help to ensure the safety of vaccines.
• Information banning One of CDC’s responsibilities is providing information to aid public understanding of health issues, including vaccine recommendations, and providing data to help local health agencies set policy. A preview of what Kennedy could do to align CDC with his views is provided by the new Trump administration in 2017 removing climate change information and data from the EPA website (Reuters).
Kennedy lacks the appropriate training, experience, and expertise, opposes expertise, and accepts fraudulent “science” and conspiracy “theories.” Moreover, he has used his celebrity to recklessly promote unsubstantiated claims that led to fatal consequences. To have him lead HHS could imperil national and even global health, because countries with less resources rely on the work and recommendations of NIH, FDA, and CDC.
© 2024 Henry A. Choy. All rights reserved.