Donald Trump has made some alarming nominations to lead his administration, including anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to oversee the Department of Health and Human Services.
Vaccines are one of modern medicine’s biggest successes, eradicating infectious diseases like polio, measles, mumps, and other illnesses that previously disabled and killed millions of people in the past. Despite this, RFK has long pushed dangerous conspiracy theories and misinformation about vaccines.
For almost two decades, RFK has espoused that vaccines cause autism, a viewpoint that MAGA extremist Marjorie Taylor Greene also shares despite no scientific evidence to back it up. They continue to cite a retracted 1990s medical study written by an author who later lost his medical license. During his press conference on Monday, Trump pushed this same debunked conspiracy theory and reiterated that he’s against vaccine mandates in schools.
If RFK and Trump have their way and abolish school vaccine requirements, health experts warn it would be a disaster for public health, opening the door for the return and spread of infectious diseases.
As Rob has said, the appointment of anti-vaccine, anti-science, and pro-conspiracy RFK Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services is on brand for Trump — and both dangerous and irresponsible.
— Bonta HQ
