What RFK Jr. Has Said About COVID-19

RObert F. Kennedy JR .

Here’s what to know about Kennedy’s attitudes about Covid-19 and why some experts and legislators are concerned about having a US response to the next potential pandemic.

Kennedy’s racial and ethnic claims about Coid-19

Kennedy held some controversial and unfounded views of Coid-19 and ethnicity.

According to 2023 video Shared New York PublishWhen Kennedy was a presidential candidate, he said at a private dinner in New York, “there is an argument that [COVID-19] is ethnically targeted. Coid-19 attacks certain races disproportionate. The Coid-19 is aimed at attacking white and blacks. People who are most immune are Jews of Ashkenazi and Chinese. “After being accused of being anti -Semitic, Kennedy wrote on x That the post was “wrong” and that “never, never, never suggested that the Coid-19 virus was intended to spare Jews. I do not believe and never imply that the ethnic effect was deliberately designed.”

The senators made a statement at the discussion. “I didn’t say it was intentionally targeted,” Kennedy said again.

What science says about Coid-19 and races

Government health data on hospitalization and death from the Coid-19 show that sometimes during pandemic, the virus disproportionately influenced blacks and Latin American. But this data also showed that the reason for the imbalance was not due to any biological factors associated with race, but not for social factors. During pandemies, people in these demographic groups are prone to greater risk of virus exposure because they are more likely to do important jobs that cannot be done at home, which is more likely to live in larger households where infections can be expanded quickly, more limited to health approach protection and vaccines and larger rates of fundamental chronic conditions such as asthma, diabetes and heart disease, which can make them more vulnerable to serious diseases than Coid-19.

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A large part of the disproportionate influence of Coid-19 “reflects the inequality that arise because of structural racism, not race,” says Samantha Artig, Vice-President and Director of Rasni Equality and Health Policy Program in KFF who has Published an analysis From Coid-19 trends by race and ethnicity. “The idea of ​​biological differences on races is denied,” she says. “It is historically used for a series of abuse and harassment of color people.”

Kennedy’s comments 2023. O COID-19 “Capitalize the confrontation and distrust in public to encourage your own natural medicine plan and demonize the medical industry,” says Dr. Eric Burnett, Assistant Professor of Medicine at Columbia University. “He just wants to burn everything and then give real solutions to solve the problems he talks about.”

Rfk Jr. opposition covid-19 vaccines

Kennedy, who is Known for its views against vaccineswas the vocal critic of the Government’s response to the Coid-19, including locking and mandates for the vaccine and mask, which he used to be on compared in Nazi practice in concentration camps. “Even in Hitler Germany, you could … move the Alps to Switzerland. You could hide on the attic, as Anne Frank did,” he said to rally, protesting the mandates of the vaccine in Washington, DC 2022 (after his are his remarks were widely convicted, Kennedy told.)

His opposition to the vaccine also appeared at hearing when he said that “Covered vaccines are inappropriate for six -year -old children who basically have a zero risk of covids.” That’s not supported by data from American centers for the control and prevention of the disease (CDC), which show that young children can also develop infections.

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Kennedy called himself Proponent of “Medical Freedom” and “Body Autonomy”, Supporting the idea that people should be able to choose for themselves whether they are vaccinated, based on information informed.

But the evidence he involves is “his evidence, evidence that supports everything his current theory,” says Dr. Gregory Polland, president of the Atria Research Institute, which provides personalized health care. “Part of the problem is that these are awful errors in communication and the result of not being a scientist and not training scientifically. Use words and expressions that sound properly, such as medicine based on evidence, but medicine based on evidence is fully based on the scientific method it apparently rejects. “

As chief HHS, Kennedy would also have a significant power of impact on vaccine policy In countless ways, including the CDC Committee that recommends vaccine policy for everyone, from childhood vaccination to annual flu crap and covid-19, and in the US, the food and medicine administration, which re-examines and approves vaccines as safe and effective.

Concern about Kennedy to lead during another pandemic

The senators pressed Kennedy to their past statements about the Coid-19 as a window in that HHS under his leadership will respond to a new pandemia-Miji that plagues Burnett. “Guardians disappeared” in the second term of President Trump, he says. “Medical experts, people who are familiar with pandemic and have worked on them earlier: it just won’t be there. I think the American people will be harder to distract that storm over time.”

Concerns are not purely hypothetical; As the cases of bird flu are still increasing among domestic animals, public health experts carefully monitor the potential movement of the virus to spread among humans. “I intend to dedicate the appropriate resources to prevent pandemic,” Kennedy said during hearing when he was questioned about bird flu. “It’s the central part of my job.”

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Still, Trump’s administration has already taken steps weaken Government’s ability to respond to pandemic. Just a few days after he assumed his duty, Trump signed an executive command, withdrawing now from the World Health Organization (WHO); Days later, public health officers were said Let’s stop working with WHO. Administration also Freeze federal health communications To further ado – including stopping the publication of CDC Weekly Mmwr A report, which describes the latest epidemic of diseases such as bird flu and informs the doctors and experts in public health of emerging threats.

“You and I, as private citizens, have no way to collect, compare and synthesize data from the whole US, even less from all over the world,” says Poland. “We are dependent on the Government to do it for us. But what happens when that government will not, or cannot, or manipulate such information? This is the world of injuries.”