In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread. Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.
A number of posts discussed Trump's support for the discredited notion.
Another leading anti-vaxxer is presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. He has repeatedly compared vaccine mandates to the Holocaust. Rolling Stone and Salon retracted an RFK article linking vaccines to autism. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen."
In 2019, Samoa was experiencing a spike in measles cases due to a mistake and a lie. The mistake was made in 2018 by two nurses who mixed ingredients for a measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine incorrectly, causing the deaths of two infants. (They pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter.) The lies came soon after, encouraged by RFK Jr., who has consistently propagated the myth that the MMR vaccine causes autism, peanut allergies, and other ailments. Though he now denies that he was ever “anti-vaccine,” Kennedy declared as recently as July that “there is no vaccine that is safe and effective,” and, in another interview: “I do believe that autism does come from vaccines.”
Many Samoans had seen the film Vaxxed, produced by two of Kennedy’s anti-vaccine allies, which alleged that the MMR vaccine was harmful and that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had committed fraud. (Samoa, as distinct from the territory of American Samoa, is a sovereign state with its own health ministry that can and does regulate vaccines. In the United States, the FDA has that responsibility, not the CDC.)
The film and social media rumors led to an uptick in parents refusing to get their kids vaccinated. After the deaths of the two infants, RFK Jr. threw gasoline on the fire with a visit to the island in 2019, meeting with local vaccine opponents and voicing suspicions that the MMR vaccine had contained a mutant strain and had caused the then-burgeoning epidemic. Eventually, more than 3 percent of the whole population of the island was infected. For babies aged six to eleven months, that figure was closer to 20 percent. More than 150 of them died.
Dr. Paul Offit, pediatrician and author of Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All, told the Guardian that “the Samoan incident showed us how disinformation can kill. [RFK Jr.] sowed further distrust, he jumped all over it—he met with anti-vaxxers in Samoa to promote the notion that ‘it’s not measles, it’s the vaccine,’ and immunization rates dropped.”
When you think of RFK Jr., think of rows of tiny coffins.
Many conditions can be treated and prevented without drugs. The next Trump Administration could use its bully pulpit to encourage exercise, healthier eating, less screen time and regular screenings for cancer and diabetes.
But vaccines are also essential to preventing disease in children and adults. Childhood vaccines have all but vanquished deadly infectious diseases in the U.S. HPV vaccines have greatly reduced cervical cancer. Scientists have discovered that latent viruses like Epstein-Barr can trigger auto-immune conditions and cancers later in life, so developing anti-virus vaccines can ward off debilitating diseases.
Mr. Kennedy says he doesn’t plan to take away anyone’s vaccines, but he wants to reduce liability protection for vaccine makers. Removing a vaccine from HHS’s National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, which compensates patients for adverse effects caused by vaccines, would force companies to withdraw from the market to avoid costly lawsuits.
Trump transition manager Howard Lutnick told CNN before the election that this was RFK Jr.’s plan: “He says, if you give me the data, all I want is the data and I’ll . . . show how that it’s not safe. And then if you pull the product liability, the companies will yank these vaccines right off of the market.”
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Who will benefit from RFK Jr.’s agenda? The trial lawyers and China, which is seeking to surpass the U.S. in biotech including mRNA. If RFK Jr. were a Democratic nominee, GOP Senators would oppose him as a threat to public health. If they confirm him, they’d better hope they won’t need the cures that won’t be developed.
