With measles cases on the rise and midterm elections approaching, I’m sure the Republican Party is thrilled to see Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. showing his true anti-vaccine-kook colors.
Kennedy was the keynote speaker Sept. 17 at a convention held by the inaccurately named Children’s Health Defense, a rabidly anti-vaccine, pro-nonsense group Kennedy founded long before President Donald Trump put one of the nation’s leading conspiracy theorists in charge of America’s health.
As the chief of the HHS, Kennedy has largely stayed away from the group and tried, reportedly under some pressure from the White House, to cool his opposition to proven medical facts. But in his keynote speech, delivered as the nearly 3,500 measles
cases this year are already at a 35-year high, he went full crackpot.
Kennedy falsely linked vaccines to autism. He brought up recent measles cases only by making this cold, conspiratorial comment: “You care about every child who dies from measles. They get headlines. We should care about the children – shouldn’t we, I ask you – care about children who are dying or suffering or being injured by vaccine injuries.”
RFK Jr. spouts anti-vaccine nonsense as measles cases, deaths soar
Let’s stop here for the boilerplate fact-check that must accompany any mention of RFK Jr. and the anti-vaccine fantasy world he inhabits: Vaccines are safe and one of the most-studied public health tools we have. Vaccines save lives. Vaccines do not cause autism. The exceedingly low risk associated with vaccines pales in comparison with the risks posed by the diseases vaccines protect us against.
Anyone telling you otherwise is either down a rabbit hole of unscientific theorizing or is selling snake oil to make a buck. Period.
We are seeing a 35-year-high surge in measles cases because people like Kennedy and an entire economy of “health” influencers ginned up ludicrous fears over COVID-19 vaccines, then leveraged that to reduce overall vaccination rates in the country.
MAHA Institute head denounces the polio vaccine as 'fraud'
It’s madness. The convention Kennedy spoke at also featured anti-vaccine luminaries like Mark Gorton. He’s head of a Kennedy-allied think tank (the word “think” deserves some scrutiny, to be honest) called the MAHA Institute.
Back in March, Gorton said this: “The childhood vaccination schedule needs to be eliminated. All vaccines need to be removed from the market until they can be proven to be safe and effective.”
At the Sept. 17 convention, he called the polio vaccine “a massive medical fraud” and said vaccinations are a “public health disaster.”
Those comments drew a standing ovation.
Kennedy declares himself a 'steadfast friend' to anti-vaccine crowd
To the same crowd, Kennedy – who, it’s worth noting, Republicans willfully confirmed as the health secretary of these United States of America – said this: “Let me be clear. You have a strong and steadfast friend at the White House.”
Wow. That’s a mask-off embrace of some of the whackiest and most dangerous public-health nonsense imaginable. Kennedy even told the crowd: “We’re also looking at chemtrails.”
For those lucky enough not to know, “chemtrails” sit almost at the top of the unhinged-conspiracy-theory pyramid. It’s a dodo-headed belief that the white contrails you see behind jets in the sky are actually chemicals being dumped on innocent humans.
Here’s what the Environmental Protection Agency’s website says: “It is a term some people use to inaccurately claim that contrails resulting from routine air traffic are actually an intentional release of dangerous chemicals or biological agents at high altitudes for a variety of nefarious purposes, including population control, mind control, or attempts to geoengineer Earth or modify the weather.”
That’s seven different kinds of crazy. And it marks Kennedy’s full return to his conspiracy theorist roots.
With midterms coming, RFK Jr. rises as yet another liability for the GOP
GOP candidates across the country face a deservedly uphill climb in the midterm elections thanks to high food and gas prices, a president whose approval is in the toilet and a wildly unpopular war with Iran. The last thing they need is a chemtrail-chasing anti-vaccine ranter like RFK Jr. reminding everyone that Republicans let a notoriously crazed, science-denying fox waltz into the public-health hen house.
With four recent measles deaths in Pennsylvania and vaccination rates dropping, the danger of all this lunacy is quite real.
Less than two months from the midterms, it seems the best way to make America healthy again is to vote out the irresponsible goons who looked at Kennedy and thought, “Yeah, sure, let’s put this weirdo in charge of health.”
Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: RFK Jr. goes rabidly anti-vaccine in face of measles outbreak | Opinion
