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Kennedy renews attacks on vaccines at Children’s Health Defense conference
Confirmed
In Short: Robert F Kennedy Jr. told anti-vaccine activists they have a 'friend in the White House' at a Children's Health Defense conference.
Robert F Kennedy Jr. reaffirmed his anti-vaccine stance during a keynote address at the Children's Health Defense conference, an organization he helped establish.
Kennedy cited a hepatitis B vaccine package insert, highlighting the lack of long-term monitoring and the extensive list of adverse events reported.
Kennedy's speech came as the US faces its worst measles year in 35, with seven reported measles-associated deaths in the last two years.
Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, where four measles-associated deaths were reported this year, criticized Kennedy for fueling 'fear and mistrust' by addressing the anti-vaccine conference.
What's confirmed
- Robert F Kennedy Jr. reaffirmed his anti-vaccine stance during a keynote address at the Children's Health Defense conference, an organization he helped establish.
- Kennedy cited a hepatitis B vaccine package insert, highlighting the lack of long-term monitoring and the extensive list of adverse events reported.
- Kennedy's speech came as the US faces its worst measles year in 35, with seven reported measles-associated deaths in the last two years.
- Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania, where four measles-associated deaths were reported this year, criticized Kennedy for fueling 'fear and mistrust' by addressing the anti-vaccine conference.
What's still developing
- “They were monitored for only five days, and there was no placebo,” Kennedy said.
- In order to market their product, vaccine makers are required to disclose conditions that people (adults and children) reported after getting vaccinated, but which are not necessarily correlated with vaccination.
- “There are 454 adverse events listed in total, and they include almost all of the injuries, like diabetes, death, sudden infant death syndrome, anorexia, allergic reactions, allergies, asthma, autoimmune diseases,” he said. (The Trump administration’s changes to the childhood immunization schedule are the subject of an ongoing lawsuit.) The Department of Health and Human Services is now conducting research on more than 150 of the most serious adverse events that have been reported after vaccination to determine whether they could be linked to certain vaccines, he said.
- Kennedy also noted a litany of other vaccine-related initiatives happening across agencies, including a task force review of the safety, timing, and sequence of childhood vaccinations, and an expansive project involving health data from Medicare and Medicaid, states and private health insurers.
- As Kennedy ended his speech, walking offstage to hearty applause, a voice overhead announced the next speaker: Andrew Wakefield, the discredited British physician whose work in the late 1990s helped kickstart the anti-vaccine movement.
- Test your knowledge with our new weekday mini crossword Isabella is a chronic disease reporter writing about how the Trump administration is tackling the nation’s health epidemic — or not.
- The CHD speech served as a victory lap for Kennedy at a key moment for the MAHA movement — just before midterm elections that could determine the viability of his agenda, and serve as a referendum on the GOP’s approach to health care reform.
- Kennedy, who previously downplayed his work sowing doubt about vaccine safety, has now made it central to his legacy as health secretary.