If Donald Trump's anti-vaccine tweets were not enough to make the scientific and medical community nervous about the future of vaccination in this country, there is now a new reason to be concerned. Very concerned.
It is reported that Donald Trump met this week with Robert Kennedy Jr., a vaccine denier and one of the most outspoken proponents of the false claim that vaccines cause autism. At the core of RFK Jr.'s irrational and harmful platform is the use of the preservative thimerosal in vaccines. Just two years ago, he edited the book, "Thimerosal: Let the Science Speak: The Evidence Supporting the Immediate Removal of Mercury--a Known Neurotoxin--from Vaccines." Interestingly, the preface of this book was written by Dr. Mark Hyman, who serves as the Medical Director at The Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Functional Medicine. Yes - that Cleveland Clinic—the same place that has been in the news continuously for the past 72 hours over a blog post written by one of their physicians. The clinic—a first rate medical institution— cannot back peddle fast enough from the words of Dr. Daniel Neides, the medical director and chief operating officer of the clinic's Wellness Institute, which question the safety of, you guessed it, vaccines.
But, this is not the time to address what RFK Jr. thinks, even though his views are completely erroneous.
It is the time for our top government officials (especially the president-elect), celebrities (I'm looking at you Robert DeNiro), and anyone else with influence in this world to stop giving people who are against, or even hesitant of vaccinations a voice. This issue is over - it was settled long ago. Vaccines do not cause autism. Let's all move on and end the anti-vaccine nightmare that a fraudulent, money hungry person started 20 years ago.
Because the more of a voice we give them, the more babies will die of measles, the flu, and other preventable diseases.
Notes:
ACSH has been writing about Robert Kennedy Jr.'s platform for years, combating the dangerous misinformation that he doles out.
For more information on his views, please visit:
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Promotes A Dangerous And Unscientific Position On Thimerosal
The Kennedys Risk Being Remembered As An Anti-Vax Family
RFK Jr. Equates Vaccinations To A Holocaust Yes, He Went There
