RFK Jr. Breaks the First Rule of Medicine

[ShazzieB]

37. Yeah, I know he was a very successful environmental lawyer.

He had a great career doing that, accomplished some things that really helped people. A lawyer doesn't have to be a scientist to litigate science-based cases successfully. He just has to know how to pick the right expert witnesses and use them effectively. RFK Jr was obviously good at doing those things.

Imo, it's a shame he didn't stick with environmental law, because he could have continued to do good things with it. Unfortunately, he got off track somewhere along the line, started falling down conspiracy theory rabbit holes, and ended up deciding vaccines are all toxic and unsafe. He's already influenced a lot of people to stop vaccinating their kids, and in the position Trump wants to appoint him to, he'd be a major menace to public health.

I don't care how many major law cases he's won; when it comes to vaccines, I think he's a dangerous crackpot, and according to what I've read, so do most public health experts, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has written about some of the problems caused by RFK Jr and others in the antivaxx movement during the efforts to get people to be vaccinated for covid. I can't give you an internet link, but it's in the last chapter of Fauci's book, On Call, which I have on my Kindle App.

I'm not a health care professional or a public health expert myself, just a scientifically literate layperson who has read widely on vaccines, the antivaxx movement, and related topics. I believe strongly that vaccines havee a vitally important role to play in protecting public health, and I am strongly opposed to all efforts to convince people to be suspicious of vaccines and/or to encourage parents not to vaccinate their children according to the schedule recommended by the vast majority of pediatricians.

I don't think RFK Jr is evil. From what I've read, he evidently believes the junk science he's pushing and thinks he's trying to help people. However, any good intentions he may have don't make him any less wrong or any less dangerous, and they definitely don't make him qualified to head up the Dept. of Health and Human Services.