Robert F. Kennedy Jr. returned to support the anti-vaccine group he founded on Thursday, telling its members they have "a strong and steadfast friend at the White House." The health secretary's keynote address to a Children's Health Defense conference in Washington marked Kennedy's first public appearance with the organization in nearly three years; he left to run for president and later resigned when President-elect Trump chose him to lead Health and Human Services. Kennedy spoke as the US faces its worst measles outbreak in 35 years, NBC News reports, with public health officials tying the surge to declining vaccination rates and Pennsylvania reporting four recent measles-related deaths.
Kennedy briefly mentioned those deaths before pivoting to vaccine safety, asking whether the country should pay equal attention to "children who are dying or suffering or being injured by vaccine injuries," drawing applause. Children's Health Defense has become a leading source of vaccine misinformation, pushing debunked claims linking vaccines to autism and suggesting measles shots are more dangerous than the virus. It was the platform from which Kennedy attacked vaccines for two decades. He told attendees on Thursday that HHS is examining vaccine risks and implied that most childhood vaccines lack adequate safety testing, a contention rejected by medical experts and contradicted by FDA and CDC data.
Mark Gorton, the president of the MAHA Institute, spoke just before Kennedy, labeling the success of the polio vaccine a "fraud." After Kennedy, Andrew Wakefield, a discredited British doctor, spoke. His paper, since retracted, had tied measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine to autism. Research over the course of decades has proved that finding to be false. HHS did not comment on Kennedy's appearance or current ties to the group, which has supplied several of his department hires.
,
uBlock 
,
and
Ghostery 
)
