The statement made by the newly elected President of the United States, Donald Trump, on Thursday elected anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Doctors and public health advocates who lead the Department of Health and Human Services were greeted with excitement.
“concerned”, Dr. Mandy Cohen saidDirector of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “I don’t want to go back and see children or adults suffer or lose their lives just to be reminded that vaccines work.”
“Unquestionably”, Dr. Richard Besser saidThe former CDC acting director added that Kennedy would “endanger the health of people across the country.”
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia professor of pediatrics and inventor of rotavirus vaccine Dr. “It’s like Typhoid Mary being in charge of food safety.”
But another group was celebrating Trump’s election: the anti-vaccine movement led by Kennedy.
On Friday, Mary Holland, CEO of the anti-vaccine nonprofit founded by Kennedy Child Health Protectionshared his joy on the group’s online TV morning show. He and CHD.TV director and longtime anti-vaccine activist Polly Tommey have reflected Kennedy’s strength in their campaigns.
“Bobby Kennedy was really the first outstanding citizen, the first outstanding American, to take our flag and join us,” Holland said of Trump’s selection.
“To the parents around the world whose children have been injured or killed or severely injured by vaccines, I want to thank you for all your courage. Today is for you. This news is for you,” Tommey said.
Kennedy did not respond to a request for comment.
as is a presidential candidateKennedy has tried to distance himself from the anti-vaccination movement he helped build while remaining a mainstay in the community, appearing on podcasts and at events supporting the cause. Now, the movement’s most vocal activists, many of whom worked for Kennedy’s campaign and his nonprofit, are enjoying the legitimacy that Trump’s endorsement brings and hope Kennedy has a chance.
Holland urged the audience to “educate” the public and Congress about the veracity of Kennedy’s anti-vaccine claims, aiming to increase his support among senators who will vote for his confirmation. Republicans will control the Senate by a narrow margin, and they have so far it has had a mixed reaction.
“For those of us who care about the fact that vaccines cause autism, that vaccines cause chronic disease and harm, that they cause death, we should align ourselves with Bobby Kennedy,” Holland said. He added, “We’re going to have a great job as citizens, calling on our senators to really push for this to pass.”
They are vaccines is an important part of safety and public health; repeated is studying have denied claims that it causes autism or chronic illness.
Holland ended the show by commenting on the symbiotic relationship between Kennedy and anti-vaccine efforts.
“He couldn’t have done it but for the local support he’s had from all of us over the past 20 years,” Holland said. “He is really the opposite of us. He is equal with us and has taken over our battle.”
Kennedy’s activism began when women began appearing in conversations about the environment, eventually convincing him of their cause: their children were harmed by vaccines. He soon became the face of the movement, protesting, is often controversialagainst childhood vaccine mandates.
Kennedy now has a chance to bring that advocacy to the nation’s highest public health office.
“WE DID IT!!!!” Published by Del Bigtreeleader of the Informed Consent Action Network, the nation’s second-best-funded anti-vaccine organization. big tree who served As communications director for the Kennedy campaign, he now leads a super PAC (MAHA Alliance) and a nonprofit (MAHA Action), both named after Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again slogan.
Dr. Sherri Tenpenny is a self-proclaimed “doctor who talks about vaccines.” his false claims He also praised Trump that Covid vaccines magnetize people. “Finally, America’s Kids Will Have a Fighting Chance to Be Healthy” X sent.
“It’s a complete game changer,” said Steve Kirsch, a veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur who has become a major anti-vaccination funder during the pandemic. propaganda and events. In a podcast of the Vaccine Safety Research Foundation, an anti-vaccine organization, Kirsch called the possible HHS job “better than RFK winning the presidency” because it would allow Kennedy to focus solely on his health.
“It’s like a dream come true,” he said.
In numerous interviews, Kennedy revealed what he would do as a department head A budget of more than 1.5 trillion dollarsonce held by former HHS Secretary Alex Azar described as having “shocking power with the stroke of a pencil”.
Kennedy sees this role as an opportunity to disrupt a government conspiracy, which he believes has been concocted without evidence by officials, doctors, scientists, and drug and food companies to keep America sick.
Kennedy said he would overhaul agencies like the CDC, the National Health Service and the Food and Drug Administration and replace “corrupt” officials with “honest public servants.” He said he would investigate and “in a few months” would find the cause of autism in children, repeatedly and falsely linking it to childhood vaccines.
Kennedy said he would eliminate some agencies and focus on others, including the NIH. “We will have a break from infectious disease in about eight years” he said at an anti-vaccination conference last year.
Those in the anti-vaccine movement weren’t the only ones celebrating Trump’s election. Those on the far right, who took up the anti-vaccine mantle during the pandemic, seemed equally pleased.
“I’m actually giddy, it’s so good,” said conspiracy theorist host Alex Jones, reacting to the appointment on his show to political operative and Trump ally Roger Stone. “I’m very concerned about the appointment,” Stone replied.
Others liked how Kennedy’s imagined showdown with public health authorities and his vendetta against former public health workers.
“Can I say now, Fauci, we’ve put his head on the pike?” Steve Bannon said on Thursday. “No, no, no, no,” he said, “Dr. Fauci, I didn’t mean that. I know you’re all worried about your safety.”
Kennedy was one of the loudest voices during the pandemic mischief Former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Dr. Anthony Fauci and he said. Fauci should be prosecuted if he committed crimes. Fauci, who described called Kennedy a “very troubled man” who was the target of death threats and persecution.
Author and conspiracy theorist Naomi Wolf, who appeared on Bannon’s show Thursday, suggested the incoming HHS secretary acknowledge the obstacles to Kennedy’s appointment, including his confirmation, pointing to the countless crimes committed by Fauci and drug companies.
“Don’t celebrate until you cross the finish line,” he said.