When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced earlier this month that he was firing an entire panel of experts that makes recommendations about vaccines to the Centers for Disease Control, he boldly claimed that the new members he’d be handpicking would earn back public confidence in vaccine science because they would “exercise independent judgment” and “foster a culture of critical inquiry.” But would it surprise you to learn that the individuals Kennedy has hired so far include a person who believes vaccines cause autism, several who have testified as expert witnesses against vaccine makers, and one who has called for the “immediate suspension” of mRNA vaccines? If you know anything about Kennedy it won’t, and if you’re just getting up to speed, prepare for a wild, terrifying ride.
NBC News reports that of the eight people Kennedy has appointed to the CDC panel:
- One, Robert Malone, “spread false allegations of widespread dangers and deaths” from COVID vaccines, published misinformation on his Substack about the measles outbreak in Texas—like that it might have been caused by the MMR vaccine, has been an expert witness in several vaccine-related lawsuits, and currently charges $500 for 15-minute “health and wellness” consultations
- Another, Vicky Pebsworth, has worked for anti-vaccine groups for two decades, according to NBC News. She’s currently a board member of a group that “researchers consider a leading source of misinformation about vaccines,” and says in speeches and bios that “her activism was sparked by her only child’s autism diagnosis, which she attributes to vaccines he received at his 15-month well-baby visit”
- A third, Martin Kulldorff, coauthored “the Great Barrington Declaration, a widely criticized memo that decried pandemic-era lockdowns and advocated for letting people at minimal risk of dying get exposed to COVID,” and earned an estimated $49,000 last year as an expert for plaintiffs in a lawsuit concerning Merck’s Gardasil vaccine
- A fourth, Retsef Levi, posted a video in 2023 calling for an “immediate suspension” of mRNA shots
- A fifth, Cody Meissner, “signed the Great Barrington Declaration and has questioned COVID vaccinations for healthy children”
- A sixth, Joseph Hibbeln, “is a longtime nutrition scientist and seafood industry adviser without apparent vaccine expertise”
As a reminder, Kennedy himself is a notorious anti-vaxxer who has falsely claimed vaccines cause autism and whose vaccine disinformation campaign has been linked to a measles outbreak in Samoa that killed at least 83 people, many of whom were children. He also appears to believe that antibiotics can treat a virus, because he got his medical degree at Whale Juice and Bear Carcass University. (Just kidding, of course: that would be preferable; he doesn’t actually have a medical degree and has said people shouldn’t take his medical advice.)
Commenting on Kennedy’s firing of experts and hiring of the above, Matt Motta, an assistant professor of health law and policy at Boston University’s School of Public Health, told NBC News: “This is an attempt to replace one of the most powerful and important vaccine advisory groups in perhaps the world with folks who are anti-vaccine,” adding that he fears the group would not recommend future lifesaving mRNA vaccines, even if there was data supporting doing so. As Dorit Reiss, a professor at the University of California College of the Law at San Francisco, told The Washington Post after Kennedy canned the 17-member panel: “This will not restore trust in vaccines, and is not designed to do so.”
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