Despite leading the government department tasked with advising Americans on their health and safety, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told new parents Monday to “do your own research” on vaccines.
The Health and Human Services secretary, a longtime anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist, made the comments on Merit TV’s “Dr. Phil Primetime” Monday night, echoing a common refrain vaccine skeptics used to spread misinformation during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I would say that we live in a democracy, and part of the responsibility of being a parent is to do your own research,” Kennedy said when asked how he’d advise new parents about vaccine safety. “You research the baby stroller, you research the foods that they’re getting, and you need to research the medicines that they’re taking as well.”
Kennedy did not suggest any credible resources about childhood vaccines that parents should use. To be clear, research shows vaccines are safe and prevent the spread of diseases that can be serious and even deadly. Meanwhile, serious side effects from vaccines are extremely rare.
His remarks to host Phil McGraw come as the U.S. grapples with its largest measles outbreak in about 25 years. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which Kennedy oversees, reported Friday that nearly 900 cases have been reported across 29 states, mostly in Texas. Nearly 100 people have been hospitalized, and three have died, including two school-aged children in Texas who had not been vaccinated against the disease.
Kennedy also dismissed the average American who died of COVID-19 as already being severely unhealthy.
“These were people who were so sick that they were basically hanging from a cliff, and COVID came along and stamped on their fingers and dropped them off. But they were already living lives that were burdened by sickness,” he claimed.