Recent news coverage and opinion pieces from across the country make clear that RFK Jr. and his radical agenda are dangerous for American health care. He doesn’t have the experience and skills to run major health care programs like Medicare and Medicaid that over 125 million Americans rely on for their health care. By opposing life-saving vaccines and pledging to stop funding research for cures and treatments, he will put the health of every American at risk. He embraces fringe ideas and promotes conspiracies, ignoring already settled science and experts. It was recently revealed RFK Jr.’s lawyer petitioned the FDA to revoke the polio vaccine. At his very core, RFK Jr. is anti-thetical to keeping Americans healthy.
HEADLINES
The Washington Post: RFK Jr. Tries to Build Momentum for HHS Candidacy on Capitol Hill
- Leslie Dach, founder of Protect Our Care, a left-leaning advocacy group fighting Kennedy’s selection for HHS, said he isn’t impressed by Kennedy’s early meetings with GOP senators. “He purposely picked the easy ones who will give him momentum,” Dach said. “The senators that matter, he hasn’t seen. … Just looking at public remarks, you can see enough votes to defeat him,” Dach said. “This is a fight we can win.”
The New Republic: RFK Jr.’s Cabinet Nomination Is Already Flopping
- He’ll also have to convince lawmakers that his agenda, which opposes vaccine mandates for school-aged children and includes appointing someone who has filed a petition with the FDA to end the approval and “pause distribution” of 13 vaccines, isn’t at odds with the future of America’s health.
New York Times: What Kennedy Has Said About the Polio Vaccine in Recent Years
- But a New York Times review of Mr. Kennedy’s public comments over the past several years shows that he has consistently expressed views about the polio vaccine that are at odds with the medical consensus. For example, he has suggested that after the vaccine was first introduced, it might have caused a wave of cancers “that killed many, many, many, many, many more people than polio ever did.” And he has said the idea that the vaccine resulted in a drastic decline in polio cases is “a mythology” that is “just not true.”
OPINION
Press Herald: Opinion: Why RFK Jr. Must Not Become HHS Secretary.
By Donna A. Gaffney, psychotherapist, and Teri Mills, retired adult nurse practitioner.
- Despite his unfounded beliefs, Kennedy is out of step with the majority of Americans who know that vaccination is a crucial tool in controlling the spread of a virus and protecting public health. The Pew Research Center found in 2023 that 88% of Americans say the benefits of childhood vaccines for measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) outweigh the risks, compared with just 10% who say the risks outweigh the benefits.
Los Angeles Times: Column: The Latest Evidence That Putting RFK Jr. In Charge of Public Health Would Be a Disaster.
By Robin Abcarian, LA Times Columnist.
- Last week, the New York Times reported that in 2022, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s attorney and close advisor Aaron Siri had petitioned the Food and Drug Administration to revoke approval of the polio vaccine in use for the last three decades until its safety can be studied further against an unvaccinated control group. Kennedy, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Health and Human Services secretary, is a longtime vaccine skeptic who spouts nonsense about the safety and efficacy of vaccines and a lot of other things. He is, in the view of many medical professionals, a danger to public health.
The Nation: RFK Jr. Is Giving Infectious Diseases a Promotional Tour
By Gregg Gonsalves, codirector of the Global Health Justice Partnership and associate professor of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health.
- RFK Jr. has bragged that he’d tell researchers at the National Institutes of Health to give “infectious disease a break for about eight years.” Well, he isn’t giving infectious disease a break but leading its promotional tour. If this man gets what he wants, old scourges will be back with a vengeance. And those years, like those of my father’s childhood, filled with the terror of deadly diseases, the suffering and upheaval of sickness and death visited upon families, the lingering effects down the generations, will be here again.
Greenfield Reporter: My Turn: Just Say No to Polio and RFK Jr.
By Roxann Wedegartner, former mayor of Greenfield, MA.
- For me, the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services is one of the worst, because of, among other reasons, his stance on vaccinations — in particular, a petition to the FDA by Kennedy’s lawyer, Aaron Siri, to revoke approval of the polio vaccine.
Kansas City Star: Opinion: RFK Jr.’s Anti-vax Views Haven’t Changed Since He Spoke in Kansas Last Year
By Yvette Walker, The Kansas City Star’s opinion editor and leader of its editorial board.
- It’s hard to say which Trump nominee will have the toughest battle for confirmation, because most of his choices are staggering. But I can say with confidence that Kennedy could do the most damage if he runs roughshod through the health policies and safeguards our country relies on. For example, CBS News reported that Trump planned to speak with him about ending childhood vaccine programs.
Los Angeles Times: Opinion: My Son Has Autism. His Life Tells a Story RFK Jr. Ignores
By Susan Hall, writer in Michigan.
- With his inaccurate stance that vaccines should be avoided to prevent autism, Kennedy suggests that chancing severe childhood diseases would be preferable to a life like my son’s. Diagnosed at age 1 with a rare seizure disorder that stalled his cognitive development, and later with intellectual disability and autism, my son today is a smart, charming 25-year-old with a great sense of humor. He’s exploding with independence and has cultivated passions of his own: lawn mowing and country music, to start with.
NJ.com: Opinion: RFK Jr. Is Here to Stuff Your Stocking
By Drew Sheneman, cartoonist.
- In the short time since he was named as Trump’s nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has pledged to remove fluoride from the drinking water and announced his intention to repeal approval of the polio vaccine. Neither of these actions seem to to be conducive to health or humans, so maybe RFK Jr. and his brain worm aren’t the best choice to lead an agency devoted to the promotion and welfare of both.