RFK Jr.'s Stunning Claim About Black People And Vaccines Sparks Concern From Medical Experts
Experts weigh in on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s controversial take and what they want everyone to know.
From COVID-19 conspiracy theories to confusion on the facts about Medicare and Medicaid to refusing to say that vaccines aren’t linked to autism, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s February confirmation hearings on Capitol Hill were anything but smooth for someone who is hoping to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
While his history of anti-vaccine remarks was a major talking point throughout the hearings, his beliefs were also front and center during a heated exchange in which Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) brought up a comment that Kennedy once made about vaccinations and the Black community.
In 2021, Kennedy had said, “We should not be giving Black people the same vaccine schedule that’s given to whites, because their immune system is better than ours.”
Alsobrooks asked Kennedy to explain what he meant by that remark, and he went on to reference a “series of studies” while saying research shows that “Blacks need fewer antigens.” (For the record, experts say that
this is not true.)
“Right now, how vaccine schedules are tailored is based on things like your age, your exposure risk, if you have other chronic underlying health conditions ― but race isn’t one of them, and there isn’t research that suggests that it should be,” Joel Bervell, a recent medical graduate and medical myth-buster on social media, told HuffPost.
What especially bothered Bervell about Kennedy’s exchange with Alsobrooks was the fact that he doubled down on his comment from 2021.
Kennedy could have used this as an opportunity to admit that he needs to do more research and understand the vaccine schedule, “but instead, he defended what he said, which I think, for me, that’s where the problem lies in,” Bervell told HuffPost. “Not necessarily the fact of the misinformation is out there, but the fact that he wasn’t willing to at least confront it or admit that onstage.”
Below, experts like Bervell share their concerns about Kennedy’s statement and how it reflects a larger problematic picture:
Kennedy’s comment can be considered ‘scientific racism,’ experts say.
“In medicine, in science, we know that race is a social construct, meaning that you can’t look at someone’s genes and identify what race they are,” Bervell said.
That means differences in vaccine timelines just don’t make scientific sense.
“The comment that [Kennedy] made about the vaccine schedule, it’s basically scientific racism, which has been debunked,” Dr. Oni Blackstock, a primary care and HIV physician who is the founder and executive director of Health Justice, a racial and health equity consulting company, told HuffPost.
“He’s really perpetuating this false belief that Black people are somehow biologically different from white people and, in that way, justifying differential and ultimately unequal treatment for Black people versus white people,” Blackstock added.
“By saying that, he was putting on one of the larger stages in health care this notion that race-based medicine should still exist, when that’s actually what many scientists recently have been trying to root out,” Bervell said.
Race-based medicine and scientific racism has led to undertreatment of Black patients, dismissal of pain and even death, Blackstock stressed....
Such stances may lead to more mistrust in the health care system.
... Bervell said comments like those from Kennedy can sow vaccine hesitancy in the Black population, which is dangerous and can erode trust in evidence-based medicine.
... With misinformation and scare tactics rampant on social media, misinformation from government leaders will only make it harder to tell what’s real and what’s fake in medicine. Trust needs to be paramount for health care as an institution, Bervell said.
Experts say this rhetoric aligns with messaging from Donald Trump.
... “It echoes some of the rhetoric that [Trump] has shared around eugenics and immigrants,” Blackstock said. “He’s talked about immigrants having ‘bad genes’ or ‘poisoning the blood of our country.’ It just speaks to this idea of racial purity or genetic purity, and this false idea that certain groups of people are inherently inferior or predisposed to certain behaviors because of their genetics.”
... Blackstock added that she thinks individuals get away with this kind of rhetoric because people become accustomed to outlandish comments and bad behavior.
“But we need to really flag this and say this is really dangerous and really concerning rhetoric that can have real health implications,” Blackstock said.
DonOLD = Ongoing Legal DeficienciesPro-RFK Jr. letter to the Senate includes names of doctors whose licenses were revoked or suspended
Makes no difference. 
Cassidy is a coward who got bullied by MAGA.
GQP, especially Dr Bill.
. 
KINO/PINO may end up being a couple of our most prolific murderers. 
You're in good company 
:
Planned amateurism?
I'm not sure how she really feels.