The appointment of RFK Jr. to lead HHS shocks Philadelphia vaccine expert Paul Offit

Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center in Children’s Hospital of Philadelphiasaid he was “shocked” by President-elect Donald Trump’s statement choice from anti-vaccine activist and former presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

Offit called Kennedy an “agent of chaos in the vaccine world” and claimed that under Kennedy a vaccine denier“children could suffer from that chaos.”

Trump announced Kennedy’s selection last week. The move follows Kennedy’s decision in August to back Trump and withdraw his own independent candidacy in key states. including Pennsylvania.

“I’m going to let him loose on his health,” Trump said of Kennedy during an October meeting in New York. ‘I’m going to make him go wild with food. I’m going to let him go on medication.’

Kennedy, a conspiracy theorist, has said for years that vaccines lead to… autisma lie that has been refuted several times by dozens of scientists around the world.

“RFK Jr. is a dangerous man,” Offit said. “This decision is completely depressing.”

Offit and Kennedy came into contact twenty years ago Kennedy called to ask if thimerosala compound safely used as a preservative in vaccines caused cancer.

‘I assured him it was not true — that it was removed from all vaccines by 2001,” said Offit, co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, which attacks the virus that can cause deadly diarrhea in children.

But Kennedy ignored Offit’s expertise, and has since blamed vaccines for autism.

“RFK Jr. has become a science denier,” Offit said. “If you present him with science, he will ignore it if it goes against his prejudices.”

Kennedy’s team made no comment after receiving a list of questions, as well as Offit’s statements.

As head of HHS, Kennedy would have no direct authority to ban vaccines, according to reporting by The hill.

But Offit and others say he will continue to have powerful influence over the agencies that regulate vaccines, with the power to cut funding or remove protections that vaccine makers usually have.

Kennedy promised “Make America healthy again”, mimicking Trump’s slogan.

In addition to pledging to “expose the flaws in vaccine science,” Kennedy said he would fight chronic disease in America by “breaking the stranglehold of the processed food lobby” and working to “clean up the corruption” in the US health agencies, which It could mean eliminating entire departments.

Kennedy has also proposed combating the epidemic of chronic disease by addressing root causes, such as poor nutrition, environmental toxins and inadequate health care. He is also being called on to reduce harmful chemicals and toxins from America’s food, water and air.

In October, Kennedy said in a post on the social platform X that he “will not take anyone’s vaccines away. I just want to make sure that every American knows the safety profile, the risk profile and the efficacy of each vaccine. That’s it.”

Offit finds no comfort in this promise, arguing that Kennedy’s selection will help reinforce anti-vaccine rhetoric.

“The very fact that he qualifies for this job will confirm some parents’ fears about vaccinations. Even now, vaccinations against measles and whooping cough in kindergarten are in some cases refused by parents.”

Kennedy distributed others health misinformationsaying: the use of vaccinations is related to the Holocaust; the coronavirus vaccine is the “deadliest” made by man; drinking water can change children’s gender identity; fluoride in water jug lower IQ; was the coronavirus “ethnically focused” to prevent Jews and Chinese from succumbing to COVID-19; WiFi causes cancer; drinking raw milk, which can contain E. coli and listeria, should encouraged; And antidepressants are responsible for school shootings.

Kennedy will sometimes confuse people even more by denying that he said things. For example, he said recently he has “never been anti-vaccine” and denied that “no vaccine” is safe and effective.

But last November, FactCheck.org, part of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, launched at the University of Pennsylvaniasaid that is incorrect. The nonprofit discovered a Lex Fridman podcast Kennedy had done so in July 2023, saying, “There is no vaccine that is, you know, safe and effective.”

Offit said he could not understand Kennedy’s nomination.

“Why would you put this person in charge of agencies based on science? He makes things up. He’s just a liar.”