On the subject of vaccines, nearly nothing that comes out of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s mouth is true.
The person accountable for the nation’s well being and nicely being is impervious to science, experience and information. His model of vanity is not only harmful, it’s deadly. Undermining belief in vaccines, he could have the blood of kids around the globe on his arms.
Scratch that.
He already does, as he presides over the second largest measles outbreak on this nation because the illness was declared “eradicated” 1 / 4 century in the past.
“Vaccines have grow to be a divisive subject in American politics,” Kennedy wrote the opposite day in a Wall Avenue Journal essay, “however there’s one factor all events can agree on: The U.S. faces a disaster of public belief.”
The dearth of self-awareness could be humorous if it weren’t so tragic.
Over the previous 20 years or so, Kennedy has carried out greater than nearly another American to destroy the general public’s belief in vaccines and science. And now he’s bemoaning the very factor he has helped trigger.
Earlier this month, Kennedy fired the 17 medical and public well being consultants of the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — certified docs and public well being consultants — and changed them with a bunch of (principally) anti-vaxxers with the intention to pursue his relentless, ascientific campaign.
On Thursday, at its first assembly, his newly reconstituted council voted to ban the preservative thimerosal from the few remaining vaccines that include it, regardless of many research exhibiting that thimerosal is secure. On that time, even the Meals and Drug Administration web site is blunt: “A strong physique of peer-reviewed scientific research performed within the U.S. and different international locations help the protection of thimerosal-containing vaccines.”
“In the event you searched the world huge, you possibly can not discover a much less appropriate particular person to be main healthcare efforts in the US or the world,” psychiatrist Allen Frances instructed NPR on Thursday. Frances, who chaired the duty power that modified how the Diagnostic and Statistical Guide of Psychological Problems, or DSM, defines autism, printed an essay within the New York Instances on Monday explaining why the incidence of autism has elevated however is neither an epidemic nor associated to vaccines.
“The fast rise in autism circumstances is just not due to vaccines or environmental toxins,” Frances wrote, “however is reasonably the results of adjustments in the way in which that autism is outlined and assessed — adjustments that I helped put into place.”
However Kennedy is just not one to let the info stand in the way in which of his cockamamie theories. Producers way back eliminated thimerosal from childhood vaccines due to unfounded fears it contained mercury that would accumulate within the mind and unfounded fears a few relationship between mercury and autism.
That didn’t cease certainly one of Kennedy’s new council members, Lyn Redwood, who as soon as led Kids’s Well being Protection, the anti-vaccine group based by Kennedy, from declaring a victory for youngsters.
“Eradicating a recognized neurotoxin from being injected into our most weak inhabitants is an efficient place to start out with making America wholesome once more,” Redwood instructed the committee.
Autism charges, by the way in which, have continued to climb regardless of the thimerosal ban. However worry not, gullible Individuals, Kennedy has promised to pinpoint a trigger for the complicated situation by September!
Like his boss, Kennedy simply makes stuff up.
On Wednesday, he halted a $1-billion American dedication to Gavi, a company that gives vaccines to tens of millions of kids around the globe, wrongly accusing the group of failing to research hostile reactions to the diptheria vaccine.
“That is completely disastrous for youngsters around the globe and for public well being,” Atul Gawande, a surgeon who labored within the Biden administration, instructed the New York Instances.
Unilaterally, and opposite to the proof, Kennedy determined to desert the CDC advice that wholesome pregnant ladies obtain COVID vaccines. However an unvaccinated pregnant girl’s COVID an infection can result in severe well being issues for her new child. Actually, a examine final 12 months discovered that infants born to such moms had “unusually excessive charges” of respiratory misery at or simply after start. In line with the CDC, practically 90% of infants who have been hospitalized for COVID-19 had unvaccinated moms. Additionally, vaccinated mothers can move protecting antibodies to their fetuses, who will be unable to get a COVID shot till they’re 6 months previous.
What else? Oh sure: Kennedy as soon as instructed podcaster Joe Rogan that the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic was “vaccine-induced flu” despite the fact that no flu vaccine existed on the time.
He additionally instructed Rogan {that a} 2003 examine by doctor scientist Michael Pichichero, an professional on using thimerosal in vaccines, concerned feeding infants 6 months previous and youthful mercury-contaminated tuna sandwiches, and that 64 days later, the mercury was nonetheless of their system. “Who would do this?” Kennedy demanded.
Nicely, nobody.
Within the examine, 40 infants have been injected with vaccines containing thimerosal, whereas a management group of 21 infants bought photographs that didn’t include the preservative. None was fed tuna. Ethylmercury, the type of mercury in thimerosal, the researchers concluded, “appears to be eradicated from blood quickly through the stools.” (BTW, the mercury present in fish is methylmercury, a distinct chemical, which might harm the mind and nervous system. In a 2012 deposition for his divorce, which was revealed final 12 months, Kennedy mentioned he suffered reminiscence loss and mind fog from mercury poisoning attributable to consuming an excessive amount of tuna fish. He additionally revealed he has a lifeless worm in his mind.)
Kennedy’s tuna sandwich anecdote on Rogan’s podcast was “a ChatGPT-level of hallucination,” mentioned Morgan McSweeney, a.okay.a. “Dr. Noc,” a scientist with a doctorate in pharmaceutical sciences, specializing in immunology and antibodies. McSweeney debunks the idiotic medical claims of non-scientists like Kennedy in his widespread social media movies.
Talking of AI hallucinations, on Tuesday, at a congressional committee listening to, Kennedy was questioned about inaccuracies, misinformation and made up analysis and citations for nonexistent research in the primary report from his Make America Wholesome Once more Fee.
The report targeted on how American youngsters are being harmed by their poor diets, publicity to environmental toxins and, predictably, over-vaccination. It was instantly savaged by consultants. “This isn’t an evidence-based report, and for all sensible functions, it must be junked at this level,” Georges C. Benjamin, govt director of the American Public Well being Assn. instructed the Washington Submit.
If Kennedy was honest about bettering the well being of American youngsters he would deal with combating actual scourges like gun violence, drug overdoses, despair, poverty and lack of entry to preventive healthcare. He could be preventing the proposed cuts to Medicaid tooth and nail.
Do you suppose he even is aware of that over the previous 50 years, the lives of an estimated 154 million youngsters have been saved by vaccines?
Or that he cares?
