Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump’s pick for Health and Human Services secretary, also argued for jailing vaccine scientists in previously unreported comments at autism conferences.

Summary

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump’s pick for Health and Human Services secretary, has a history of extreme rhetoric and conspiracy theories about vaccines.

In previously unreported comments at autism conferences, Kennedy likened vaccination programs to Catholic Church abuse scandals and Nazi death camps and argued for jailing vaccine scientists.

He has falsely claimed vaccines cause autism and accused public health agencies like the CDC of corruption and hiding vaccine dangers.

Critics fear his leadership could dismantle vaccine safety efforts, decrease public trust, and disrupt public health policy.

    • @floofloof@lemmy.caEnglish
      44•3 days ago

      The CDC has been involved in genetically sequencing strains of the virus and working on vaccine development, in exactly the kind of preparedness we need for a very deadly virus that could go pandemic at any time. RFK has promised to end vaccination programs and force vaccines off the market, and he’s about to be put in charge of the CDC. The whole world will be worse prepared for a bird flu pandemic thanks to his wacky antivax views, and many, many people will die in the USA and elsewhere as a result. This is a virus that by some measures has a fatality rate of 51%, whereas COVID was probably somewhere between 1% and 2%.

      • Zement
        23•3 days ago

        It’s sad. But every single Trump voter who is also anti-vax deserves to actually experience the consequences of their actions.

      • @AlecSadler@sh.itjust.works
        11•3 days ago

        I don’t fully understand why the deaths of tens of millions or more helps corporations maintain cheap labor?

        What’s the conservative benefit here? Simply suffering?

        • @GBU_28@lemm.eeEnglish
          2•2 days ago

          I believe they’ve jumped the shark.

          The rhetoric used to be for the goals you mentioned. But now I think many, especially in the trump wh actually believe what they are peddling

        • Diplomjodler
          13•3 days ago

          Yes. They enjoy making people suffer. Nothing gives them more satisfaction than making people suffer and then being worshipped for it by those same people.

        • @diffusive@lemmy.world
          11•3 days ago

          Votes. People vote with emotions and fear is one of the most powerful emotion.

          This is for giving the various people scared by a world where there are (and will be) more and more deadly diseases (due to intensive farming and whatnots) a simple, reassuring and deadly wrong answer: it’s all a big conspiracy theory for big pharma to make money and for the government to control your brain and Bill Gates to steal your top candy crush score.

          This is the same technique at work with economy btw: economy is scary and complex…here a simple answer “Trump will fix it because he is rich so he understands money”

          Democrats talk to rationality (and sometimes rationality crosses emotions e.g. with abortions rights), Republicans talk to emotions, where facts, interests, justice doesn’t matter

        • @rottingleaf@lemmy.world
          0•3 days ago

          Countries with more efficient governments lose fewer lives than countries with less efficient governments. But also more open countries lose more lives than more closed countries. And authoritarian countries, other things equal, lose fewer lives.

          This means that structures that immobilize small power, but not big power, and have better infrastructure for big power, are encouraged.

          Thus corporations with oligarchic ambitions are, yes, interested in big pandemics.

          A bit like Hanseatic cities and other such unions became much stronger after European populations shrinking from plague.

          Except then it would also lead to servitude becoming softer and less normal, because of shortage of hands. Our current world does not have that shortage. No pandemic will bring it. Maybe a nuclear war and planetary hunger.

          This is a level higher. Modern nation states are being dismantled slowly. We will have that cyberpunk dystopia, but as always, it will be different from what’s been predicted. There will be genocide, and there will be nationalism, and there will be death squadrons, and there will be militant marxist groups, and there will be mafia organizations.

          I mean, they all already exist, it’s just that 90s worldview was a rare period of truthful representation of reality in public perception, where we felt how huge the world is. Now it’s glossy bullshit again.

      • @LifeInMultipleChoice@lemmy.world
        3•3 days ago

        Don’t know much about it, can is spread to mosquitoes? (I’m still in the unknowing bubble assuming it is transferred via blood). If you tell me it can be airborne I wouldn’t have known. (Insert bird pun here)