What to know about RFK Jr.'s positions on vaccines, drugs and health care
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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fanned the flames of vaccine misinformation and elevated unfounded claims about corruption within the FDA.
Why it matters: Now, he's President-elect Trump's pick to lead America's health agencies — including the ones he has lambasted for years.
- Some of the concerns Kennedy has raised are relatively mainstream, such as the prevalence of chronic disease and issues with the U.S. food supply.
- But his past comments also include outlandish theories like blaming school shootings on antidepressant use.
Make America Healthy Again movement
State of play: Since suspending his presidential campaign and endorsing Trump, RFK Jr. has been pushing an agenda called Make American Healthy Again, or MAHA.
- It calls for policing food additives and expanding health savings accounts, and it's advanced more conspiracy-tinged ideas about corruption within the Food and Drug Administration, fluoride in water and vaccine recommendations.
- The overriding concern, he says, is children's health. "We must stop poisoning our kids," he recently tweeted in response to conservative activist Charlie Kirk's comments about additives allowed in the American food system.
RFK's positions: Anti-fluorinated water, pro-psychedelics
When it comes to health care, RFK Jr. balks at what he calls "aggressive suppression" by the FDA on "psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything else that advances human health and can't be patented by Pharma."
- He has called for the end of the public health practice of putting fluoride in water, calling it "an industrial waste associated with arthritis, bone fractures, bone cancer, IQ loss, neurodevelopmental disorders and thyroid disease."
- Health experts have called fluoridation one of public health's greatest achievements and said claims it is unsafe are unsupported by science.
"We see what can only be described as extraordinary proposals coming out of Kennedy," Sara Rosenbaum at George Washington University's Milken School of Public Health told Axios.
Vaccine skepticism
Public health experts are particularly alarmed by Kennedy's vaccine skepticism.
- He is chair of the anti-vaccine group Children's Health Defense. However, Kennedy rejects claims that he's anti-vaccine and told NBC News after Trump was elected that he won't "take away anybody's vaccines."
- However, he also repeated a debunked claim that ties vaccinations to autism, making comments on a June 15 episode of the "Joe Rogan Experience" podcast inferring that autism has become more common due to modern vaccinations.
- Researchers called the statements inaccurate and misleading. CDC director Mandy Cohen recently warned that Kennedy's views on vaccines could cost lives, Modern Healthcare reported.
- He has suggested a flu vaccine may be to blame for a condition called spasmodic dysphonia, a rare neurological disorder that has impacted his voice, per an NBC report. That's not backed up by the research.
Kennedy's next fights
Between the lines: RFK Jr. could face a tricky nomination battle, but the pick is setting off alarm bells across the scientific community.
- FDA commissioner Robert Califf this week warned about the lines between politics and science being blurred.
- Yes, but: RFK Jr. has also promised to tackle chronic disease, which some experts say could be a good thing if he addresses evidence-backed contributors to poor health in America.
