RFK Jr’s Speech Leaks: Vaccines, Autism, and Chronic Illness
Robert F Kennedy Jr’s recent speech suggests that investigations into childhood vaccines and over-medication could be on the cards
Stephanie Vine | | 3 min read | Hot Topic
During his confirmation hearings for the post of US Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr (RFK Jr) said he would not alter the federal vaccination schedule. However, a speech given to staff, which has now been leaked online, suggests that an investigation into whether childhood vaccines are contributing to a rise in autism and chronic diseases, such as diabetes and obesity, could be in the works. Selective serotonin inhibitors, pesticides, and electromagnetic waves were also mentioned. RFK Jr says, “Nothing is going to be off limits,” as he follows an executive order from President Trump to investigate why chronic diseases and mental health illnesses are increasing in the US.
Trump’s executive order also appears to make a subtle dig at prescription medicine, stating that “health burdens have continued to increase alongside the increased prescription of medicine.” In particular, the executive order notes increases in autism and attention deficit disorder in children, and the use of prescription medicines in children. The potential “threat” posed by the prescription of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, antipsychotics, mood stabilizers, stimulants, and weight-loss drugs are also called out.
RFK Jr echoed this in his speech, talking at length about the worsening health of Americans. He described America as “the sickest nation on Earth with the highest chronic disease burden in the world.”
He added, “Our only solution to these issues seems to be more and more pharmaceutical interventions that don’t seem to be alleviating the problem and, in many cases, appear to be worsening it. Over medication particularly in children is a growing issue.”
Trump’s executive order does not blame everything on over-medication – far from it. The order also acknowledges the need for new thinking on nutrition, physical activity, healthy lifestyles, the effects of new technological habits, environmental impacts, and food and drug quality and safety – all of which could be promising avenues in the search for improving health and wellbeing.
There is also room for further investigation on medicine – particularly side effects – but it is disappointing that both Trump and RFK Jr seem to ignore the enormous contributions that medicines and vaccines have made to health. For example, open access research published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine show that around 1.6 million deaths were prevented by COVID-19 vaccination programs between December 2020 and March 2023.
Anti vaxxers may claim that just as many lives were lost because of COVID-19 vaccines, but published scientific studies do not support such claims.
Though there is always room for science to expand, some areas should be higher priority than others. Vaccines have been studied extensively and there is a significant volume of published research on the matter. Reopening old debates about their safety could impede the overall goal of improving the health of US citizens; indeed, the country is seeing increasing numbers of measles outbreaks because of lower vaccination rates.
Trump and RFK Jr call for “gold-standard research on the root causes of why Americans are getting sick,” as well as better integrity of scientific processes. In his speech, RFJ Jr also claimed that many institutes of science and medicine are no longer transparent: “As a consequence, they have become inefficient, dysfunctional or corrupt. They have fallen captive to the profit-making industries.”
Again, there is always room for more transparency, particularly when it comes to publishing negative trial results, but is the situation as bad as Trump and RFK Jr claim?
I’m interested in hearing your thoughts – and what changes you think might be coming to the pharma industry: [email protected].
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