For those of us concerned about the reelection of Donald Trump as the 47th president, of which there are many, the president-elect has officially announced the nomination of anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services.
This nomination has many stating they believe Kennedy to be dangerous. Washington state Sen. Patty Murray said Kennedy was “nothing short of a disaster for the health of millions of families.” On Oct. 25, Kennedy posted on X: “…If you work for the FDA and are part of this corrupt system, I have two messages for you: 1. Preserve your records, and 2. Pack your bags.”
According to Richard Besser, former acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, “If we were to come in and wholesale remove departments of public health and areas in public health, everyone in our country would be at risk.”
On July 20, 2023, Kennedy testified before a congressional committee regarding censorship of Americans’ free speech on social media and said, “I have never been anti-vaxx. I have never told the public to avoid vaccination.” That was a lie, and for the record, his soon-to-be boss lied when he said he didn’t lose the 2020 presidential election.
Either the folks in Congress didn’t remember or just didn’t know what he said in a 2021 podcast. I clearly remember him saying to the listening audience to “resist” CDC guidelines on when children ought to get vaccinated. Then he doubled down saying, “I see somebody on a hiking trail carrying a little baby and I say to him, better not get them vaccinated.” If a picture is worth a thousand words, what do you think the video is worth showing him standing next to a sticker that read: “If you’re not an anti-vaxxer you aren’t paying attention.”
I wish Congress was paying attention after he was sworn in under oath to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. Never mind. What does the truth and rule of law mean to Kennedy and Trump?
It’s clear to me that Congress missed the mark, or simply ignored it. I need us to be “paying attention.”
There should be no doubt he is an anti-vaxxer, and there is no doubt he’s spread false and reckless information to the Black community. His credibility was in part established by reminding us of the horrific Tuskegee experiment conducted between 1932 and 1972 by the U.S. Public Health Service and the CDC. The two organizations injected nearly 400 Black men with syphilis and left them untreated to study the effects of the disease. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kennedy told all who would listen that the virus was aimed at Caucasians and Blacks. He went on to say the Chinese scientists were making “ethnic bioweapons” and collecting data on people of various races so that they can specifically target their desired group.
His history is clear: Kennedy is full of these types of conspiracies, and very academically empty on science. There has not been one credible scientific organization that has validated his conspiracies.
Men lie, women lie, but numbers don’t lie. In 1912, measles was placed on the list of diseases to be reported nationally. Before the vaccine in 1963, nearly every child got measles by age 15. The estimate of those infected was between 3 million and 4 million per year. Hundreds died and thousands were hospitalized each year. In 2000, the United States declared measles a nonissue. Since then, there have been only 1,577 cases of measles reported in the country (1,300 in 2019, and 277 in 2024).
Why? Because of science and the application of a very effective vaccination program. Given his rhetoric, Kennedy could make measles great again.
Was the COVID-19 vaccine perfect? Absolutely not; however, I don’t know of any medicine or vaccine that is perfect. What I do know is that science has proven to save far more lives than conspiracies. What our community ought to be telling Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is just one thing: PACK YOUR BAGS!
Carl B. Mack is former president of the Seattle King County NAACP and former executive director of the National Society of Black Engineers. He holds an honorary doctor of science degree from Clarkson University, a private research institution, based in Potsdam, New York.
MACK: We Need Science — Not Conspiracy
