Tag: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
RFK Jr. and his “I’m not anti-vaccine” rejoinder to being confronted with his past antivax statements: A primer
On Friday, CNN host Kasie Hunt interviewed antivax presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Although she did better than most journalists confronting him for his past antivax statements in that she played a clip of one of his antivax statements, she clearly hadn't anticipated his response, which should have been very predictable given that he's been using it for at least 15...
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. comes home to his antivax roots…again
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gave the keynote speech at the second annual meeting of his antivax organization, Children's Health Defense. Once again, he demonstrated that not only is he still antivax as hell, but that his proposals are even more bizarre than before. Truly, it was a homecoming for him.
RFK Jr.: A fart-filled argument gives way to an antisemitic conspiracy theory that COVID-19 is an “ethnically targeted” bioweapon
Last week, RFK Jr. endured hilariously bad press about an NYC press event at which two of his supporters argued over climate change, one with lots of farts. However, the fart jokes soon gave way to darker side of the event, a Q&A in which RFK Jr. shared an antisemitic conspiracy theory claiming that COVID-19 might have been "targeted" against Caucasians and...
The Grand Debunk of the antivaxxer book “Turtles All the Way Down” (part 1/10)
This book — written by "Anonymous", edited by Children's Health Defense lawyer Mary Holland and Children's Health Defense Publisher Liaison and Thinking Moms’ Revolution co-founder Zoey O’Toole, and published by "The Turtles Team" — purports to use only mainstream references to prove its points. But the book employs all the standard tropes in a master class of science denial and antivax tactics...
RFK Jr. resurrects an old antivax half-truth about “saline placebos” in randomized controlled trials of vaccines
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has resurrected the antivax claim that the childhood vaccine schedule has never been tested in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with a saline placebo controls (and therefore the vaccine schedule is unsafe). This is an old and deceptive antivax half-truth that ignores both what constitutes a scientifically valid placebo and the ethical requirements for RCTs.
RFK Jr. and Joe Rogan: Putting the old denialist technique of bad faith “Debate me, bro!” challenges on steroids
Joe Rogan conveyed a challenge by antivax crank turned Presidential candidate RFK Jr. to vaccine scientist Dr. Peter Hotez to "debate me, bro!" In the week since, wealthy right wingers have added money to the inducement, and through an awful op-ed by Ross Douthat this weekend, even the New York Times has amped up the pressure for a "debate" about vaccines with...
Is Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. antivaccine? Judge him by his own words!
Last week, an antivaxxer on Substack—where else?—tried to argue that Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is not antivaccine by encouraging you to judge him by his own words. I agree. You should judge RFK Jr. by his own words, as they show definitively that he has been antivaccine since at least 2005.
Autism prevalence increases to 1 in 38, and antivaxxers blame vaccines without using the word “vaccine”
The CDC updated its estimates for the prevalence of autism spectrum disorders. Predictably, antivaxxers blame the increasing prevalence of ASDs reported, particularly in Black children, on "environmental factors," which is antivax code for, "Vaccines are to blame."
Vaccines and infant mortality rates: A false relationship promoted by the antivaxxers…again, 12 years later
Since COVID-19, in the antivax world everything old is new again. Even hoary chestnuts of bad science used 12 years ago to falsely claim that vaccines kill babies. That's right, Gary S. Goldman and Neil Z. Miller are back to defend their 2011 "study," and RFK Jr. is flogging it as slam-dunk "evidence" that vaccines kill babies.
Died Suddenly: A tsunami of antivax misinformation and conspiracy theories
Everything old is new again when it comes to antivax tropes. Stew Peters' antivax pseudodocumentary Died Suddenly resurrects the old antivax conspiracy that vaccines kill, the plan being to cause “depopulation” that will allow “global elites” to control the world. Dr. Gorski watched the whole movie so that you don't have to.