Why RFK, a man with a worm in his brain, is a threat to health worldwide
Robert F Kennedy JR’s role as Donald Trump’s secretary of health has become increasingly unpopular after he fired the head of America’s Centre for Disease Control. Could his anti-vaxx beliefs damage the health of the entire world?
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In brief…
- Robert F Kenndy JR recently fired Susan Monarez, head of the CDC, and replaced its vaccines council with people who share his anti-vaxx views.
- Former CDC director Mandy Cohen says if America is no longer a leading power in global health and vaccine development, the entire world could suffer.
- The News Agents say Kennedy does not operate “rational thinking” and does not use evidence or science to make his decisions.
What’s the story?
Robert F. Kennedy Jr, nephew of JFK, is known to some for his family heritage.
To others, he's known as the man who dumped the body of a six-month old bear in New York's Central Park, cut the head of a dead whale with a chainsaw and strapped it to the roof of his car, and who had a worm in his head eating his brain.
He is also a hardline anti-vaxxer, who has spread misinformation about the dangers of immunisation, and believes Lyme disease was developed as a military weapon.
So, because of his political roots, Kennedy was the perfect person for Donald Trump to appoint as his secretary for health during his second term as president.
The role as the head of the Department for Health and Human Services (HHS) puts him in charge of the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and, aside from his views on vaccines and public health (he advocates drinking raw milk, which is dangerous to humans), his recent actions include the firing of Susan Monarez, former director of the CDC.
"She got fired because she disagreed with RFK's stance on vaccines and still believes in the power of the vaccine to save American lives," says Emily Maitlis.
"He felt that she was at odds with what he was trying to do."
More than 1,000 employees in the US health department have called for him to step down, and an open letter by nine former leaders of the CDC has been published criticising his restriction of vaccines, removal of funding and the dismissal of thousands of healthcare workers.
‘Kennedy’s anti-vaxx beliefs could impact the whole world’
Mandy Cohen is a former director of the CDC, and she tells The News Agents about the "concern" within the department, and the HHS, about Kennedy's actions since becoming Trump's health secretary.
"The main job of the CDC is to detect health threats," Cohen says.
"Those health threats could be infectious diseases like bird flu, or it could be chemicals. We never know when that next outbreak or health threat is going to come. It could be two days from now, it could be two years from now.
"We have lost talent, and I think we are headed in the wrong direction in terms of building trust, we're headed in the wrong direction in terms of making the investments needed to keep our country safe and healthy."
She says the US's withdrawal from global health organisations and recognised scientific thinking on vaccines and healthcare could impact people in the UK and across the world, not just Americans.
"The United States has been a world leader for many decades, alongside the EU, to help make sure that we can get resources to lower income countries so that they can stay immunised," Cohen adds.
"Our borders do not prevent infections from coming to us. Look, we saw that firsthand during the pandemic.
"When we no longer have those investments, those relationships, and we are pulling back from all of that, that makes us all less safe."
A meeting of the CDC vaccine advisory committee is scheduled for the coming weeks, following RFK's replacement of every member with people who align with his anti-vaxx stance.
Cohen says she now wants to raise the alarm ahead of the winter season, and the cold and flu outbreaks which come with it, with attempts to limit access to the Covid vaccine, and an uncertain future for the flu vaccine in the US.
She urges people to get immunised now, before any changes to the availability of essential vaccines – many of which are life saving for older, or other vulnerable, people.
What's The News Agents' take?
Jon Sopel says Kennedy's "untested theories" about alternative theories for disease control are directly at odds with lifetimes of experience from people within, or formerly within, the CDC.
"It has cast a fear across America about what is going to be happening in terms of availability of flu shots, of shingles vaccines, or whatever it happens to be," Jon says.
Texas is currently experiencing its largest measles outbreak in decades, with many believing the anti-vaxx movement, of which Kennedy is a key voice, is to blame.
"It is not just somebody coming in with a few kooky ideas and saying, 'oh, let's think about this'," says Emily.
"There are a lot of Americans who wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, or a little bit of benefit of doubt."
There has, however, been wider support for his stance on tackling the additives in US foods, in a country which has long struggled with an obesity epidemic.
"But this is not, in any way, an evidence based, scientific approach to what America should be doing to make people more healthy," Emily adds. "It's a panic."
"Take fluoride out of the water, take vaccines off the shelf, make measles go up ten-fold in Texas. This is not rational thinking.
"It is not the movement of somebody who has actually taken the time to work through America's problems and their solutions. It's somebody who has, as he has confessed, a worm in his brain, that's leading him to do some really odd things."