Vaccine skeptic and nominee to be Donald Trump’s secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., asked the Food and Drug Administration to pull authorization for all COVID-19 vaccines in May 2021, according to The New York Times.
Not only did RFK’s organization, Children’s Health Defense, want the vaccines pulled from the shelves, but they also wanted all future COVID-19 vaccines to be denied approval.
Kennedy previously said he would not have pulled the COVID vaccines if he were in charge during the pandemic.
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The organization cited unsubstantiated claims that the vaccines were more dangerous than they were helpful amid the availability of unproven treatments such as ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine.
Now, Kennedy may be put in charge of the department that oversees the very FDA that initially dismissed his request months after he submitted it.
The request flies in the face of Trump’s assertion that RFK is less “radical” on the subject of vaccines than people think.
The revelation also suggests that he and the president-elect have different opinions on vaccines. However, Trump has supported Kennedy publicly even though Trump oversaw Operation Warp Speed to develop the lifesaving vaccines in record time—something Kennedy opposed. Trump also said the vaccines were a “miracle.”
Kennedy has claimed the vaccine has killed scores of people, despite vaccine deaths being extremely rare.
Those who did not receive the COVID-19 vaccine were 14 times more likely to die from the illness. The vaccines, along with other measures, saved approximately 800,000 lives, according to research from the Brookings Institution. Among those who did not get the jab, 230,000 unnecessary deaths likely occurred.
Kennedy’s spokeswoman tried to reassure the public by saying that Kennedy does not want to take away vaccines.
