RFK Jr and the Rise in Global Vaccine Hesitancy
There are plenty of reasons to blame RFK Jr for why folks aren't getting vaccinated around the world.
Why do some people think that RFK Jr isn’t responsible for the rise in global vaccine hesitancy?
The usual suspects…
RFK Jr and the Rise in Global Vaccine Hesitancy
Of course, RFK Jr isn’t all to blame.
There is plenty of blame to share with other anti-vaccine influencers, like Del Bigtree!
But RFK Jr certainly gets a big share.
“Mr. Kennedy Jr. and his networks have grown better organized in recent years, fuelled by social media. In July, the Britain-based nonprofit Center for Countering Digital Hate found that anti-vaxx social-media accounts attracted 58 million followers. As with the Tortoise data, the group identified Mr. Kennedy Jr. as leading this trend, particularly on Instagram, where he added more than 336,000 followers in a matter of months.”
How a Kennedy became a ‘superspreader’ of hoaxes on COVID-19, vaccines, 5G and more
Need some receipts, as they say these days?
We can start with RFK Jr visiting Samoa, way back in 2019, just before their big measles outbreak.
Remember that?
How about when RFK Jr went to Canada and acted like Big Pharma’s Vaccine Cartel Army was out to get him?
They weren’t, but he had plenty of time to spread propaganda and misinformation about vaccines in his talk.
As he did in Italy…
And Berlin…
And Africa…
So yes, folks can easily blame RFK Jr for the rise in vaccine hesitancy, both in the United States, and around the world.
Is he the sole reason?
“Something as complex as vaccine hesitancy is bound to have many causes, but research suggests that one fundamental instinct drives it: A lack of trust. Getting people to overcome their hesitancy will require restoring their trust in science, their leaders, and, quite possibly, one another. The crisis of vaccine hesitancy and the crisis of cratering trust in institutions are one and the same.”
What’s Really Behind Global Vaccine Hesitancy
Of course not, but he likely deserves a lion’s share, as his organization and their disciples have been responsible for much of the propaganda about vaccines we are seeing these days.
“In an online health conference in April, attended by Mr. Kennedy Jr., Mr. Wakefield suggested that the public had reached a point where they were now “sufficiently skeptical of vaccines.”
How a Kennedy became a ‘superspreader’ of hoaxes on COVID-19, vaccines, 5G and more
Propaganda that has led people to not trust public health professionals, their own health care providers, and vaccines that can protect them from life-threatening diseases.
Propaganda that is causing a rise in vaccine preventable diseases and deaths.
All of which is being made worse by funding cuts to HHS, GAVI, and USAID that would have helped get millions of children around the world vaccinated.
Funding cuts initiated by RFK Jr and the Trump administration.
“The National Institutes of Health (NIH) yesterday terminated at least 33 research grants studying vaccine hesitancy and strategies to increase vaccine uptake and scaled back 9 others on the topic, Science reported, based on information from a person with direct knowledge and a review of the cancellation letter that researchers received.”
NIH cuts research grants on vaccine hesitancy—with mRNA vaccine studies the next target
Funding cuts which also affect research on vaccine hesitancy, including looking for the reasons why people are hesitant to get vaccinated and techniques to overcome their hesitancy.
“Americans deserve better than someone who is trying to impose his unscientific and judgmental view of public health and science. We deserve better than RFK, Jr. He demonstrated his incompetence in only a few weeks.”
Secretary Kennedy and his policies are a danger to the public’s health
Vaccine hesitancy that is running rampant around the world.
An increase in vaccine hesitancy, for which there should be little doubt that RFK Jr and other popular anti-vaccine influencers did to us.
References
A Dozen Misguided Influencers Spread Most of the Anti-Vaccination Content on Social Media https://www.mcgill.ca/oss/article/covid-19-health/dozen-misguided-influencers-spread-most-anti-vaccination-content-social-media
How Kennedy Has Worked Abroad to Weaken Global Public Health Policy https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/30/world/africa/rfk-jr-kennedy-international-work-public-health-policies.html
What’s Really Behind Global Vaccine Hesitancy https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2021/12/which-countries-have-most-anti-vaxxers/620901/
How a Kennedy became a ‘superspreader’ of hoaxes on COVID-19, vaccines, 5G and more https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-robert-f-kennedy-jr-medical-misinformation/
Robert F Kennedy Jr ‘exploited tragedy’ of Nazism in anti-vax speech, says Auschwitz memorial https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/24/robert-f-kennedy-jr-anti-vax-speech-anne-frank-auschwitz-memorial
NIH cuts research grants on vaccine hesitancy—with mRNA vaccine studies the next target https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/anti-science/nih-cuts-research-grants-vaccine-hesitancy-mrna-vaccine-studies-next-target
How Kennedy is already weakening America's childhood vaccine system https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/rfk-jr-vaccines-children-weakening-system-hhs-budget-cuts-rcna199188
Secretary Kennedy and his policies are a danger to the public’s health https://www.apha.org/news-and-media/news-releases/apha-news-releases/secretary-kennedy-and-his-policies-are-a-danger-to-the-public%E2%80%99s-health
What makes me even more angry is that these cuts to HHS, CDC, USAID, GAVI etc are supposedly in the name of efficiency; ie saving money. Yet Trump, Musk and RFK are themselves making hundreds of millions of dollars, all of which is vanishing straight into their bulging pockets and giving huge tax cuts to their billionaire cronies.
It’s bad enough when you cut a vital service and kill thousands of kids, but to do it while you also personally enriching yourself is repugnant.
Kennedy is a global POS death spreader.