In your testimony today, in order to prove you’re not anti-vaxx, you note that all your kids are vaccinated, but in a podcast in 2020, you said you would ‘do anything, pay anything to go back in time and not vaccinate your kids.’

Mr. Kennedy, all these things cannot be true. So are you lying to Congress today when you say you are pro-vaccine, or did you lie on those podcasts? We have all of this on tape, by the way.”

Kennedy:

Senator, as you know, because it’s been repeatedly debunked that statement that I made on the Lex Fridman Podcast was a fragment of the statement.

He asked me, and anybody who actually goes and looks at that podcast will see this. He asked me, Are there vaccines that are safe and effective? And I said to him, some of the live vaccines are.

And I said, ‘There are no vaccines that are safe and effective,’ and I was going to continue, ‘for every person.’

Every medicine has people who are sensitive to them, including vaccines. He interrupted me at that point.

I’ve corrected it many times, including on national TV. You know about this, Senator Wyden, so bringing this up right now is dishonest.

Despite the fact that Kennedy exposed how disingenuous Wyden was about this past statement, Wyden continue to attack him as anti-vaccine.

The press did the same in the days that followed. Here are several examples where the same false claim was made against Kennedy using the misleading quote: There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective.

Jan 30th, Wall Street Journal: RFK Jr. Says He Is ‘Not Antivaccine’

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in his opening statement that he wasn’t “antivaccine.” In a July 2023 podcast interview, Kennedy said “there’s no vaccine that is, you know, safe and effective.”

Feb 13th, NBC New York: A look at Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s controversial health policy views

Kennedy has long been a vaccine skeptic, and he and Trump have falsely claimed that childhood vaccines are dangerous and tied to rising autism rates. His opposition to vaccines is broad, and he has said that “there’s no vaccine that is safe and effective.”

Feb 13th, Forbes:

In a podcast last year with Lex Fridman, Kennedy said “there’s no vaccine that is, you know, safe and effective.” He walked back the statement in a subsequent interview with CNN, calling it a “bad use of words” and has often denied that he’s anti-vaccine.

Feb 13th, New York Times:

The Senate has just confirmed as health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a science denialist who once said there is no vaccine that is safe and effective.

ONE EXCEPTION

**The New York Post should be recognized for accurately reporting about the there’s no vaccine that is safe and effective comment during his hearing.

The Post:

“Mr. Kennedy, you have spent years pushing conflicting stories about vaccines,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the top Democrat on the Finance Committee, during the first confirmation hearing.

“You say one thing and then you say another. In your testimony today, under oath, you denied that you were anti-vaccine. But during a podcast interview in July of 2023, you said, quote, ‘No vaccine is safe and effective.'”

“So are you lying to Congress today when you say you are pro-vaccine? Or did you lie on all those podcasts?” Wyden asked.

“I said, ‘There are no vaccines that are safe and effective,’” Kennedy replied. “And I was going to continue for every person, every medicine has people who are sensitive to them, including vaccines. He interrupted me at that point.”

Back in August, 2024, I wrote this Substack piece. I focused on repeated false claim that Kennedy believes there is no safe vaccine out there.

**RFK Jr.: "MY MOST CONTROVERSIAL ISSUE" - by Anne ...

The truth about vaccines and the American people

Bill Maher: You said that no vaccine is safe and effective.

CNN: There’s no vaccine that is, you know, safe and effective. Do you still believe that?

Kennedy: That statement comes from an interview where I was interrupted, and I didn’t get to complete my thought.

Kennedy: What I was actually saying that interview, and what I’ve said for 20 years, is that there is no such thing as a vaccine that is safe and effective for everyone. . . .

This fixation on finding anything—any word or comment—that could be used to discredit Robert Kennedy is a sign of a much bigger issue. Almost no one in the media or in politics wants to know why Kennedy has questions about vaccine safety.

Kennedy said,

Vaccines have side effects, just like every other drug. This shouldn’t be controversial, but it is.

I personally can’t think of any other medical product that is so above reproach. No one is allowed to cast aspersions on any aspect of the vaccine program. We are all just supposed to comply, especially when it comes to childhood vaccinations.

Kennedy says he wants to look into the safety studies done on vaccines pre licensure. That can’t be allowed either. All the science is done. All vaccines are safe for every child, or at least that is what we’re ordered to think.

Why is it wrong to ask these questions?

IF vaccines were really so thoroughly proven safe and the chance of side effects so minimal, there wouldn’t be all this distrust.

The study never done

And of course, the one simple way is dispel all our angst over vaccines would be to conduct a study (and health officials never tire of population studies) comparing the health outcomes of fully vaccinated and never vaccinated children.

IF never vaccinated children have the same rates of autism, dyslexia, asthma, seizure disorder, ADD, ADHD, diabetes, life-threatening allergies and all the other health problems rampant among children today, we could move on from this controversy. We would have proof that there is no link.

NO ONE IN CHARGE HAS BEEN WILLING TO DO THIS STUDY—UNTIL NOW.

I sincerely hope that when Robert Kennedy takes over at HHS, he will call for this research. It is years past the time it should have been done.

YOUR THOUGHTS?

Wyden wasn’t interested in Robert Kennedy’s actual position on vaccines. His rampage was a sign of something more sinister going on.

Kennedy has questions about vaccine safety, and that was enough to disqualify him from any official government office.

Trying to use his words against him

Wyden began by calling Kennedy a liar.

Wyden:

In your testimony today, under oath, you denied you were anti-vaccine, but during a podcast interview in July of 2023, you said, ‘No vaccine is safe and effective.’

In your testimony today, in order to prove you’re not anti-vaxx, you note that all your kids are vaccinated, but in a podcast in 2020, you said you would ‘do anything, pay anything to go back in time and not vaccinate your kids.’

Mr. Kennedy, all these things cannot be true. So are you lying to Congress today when you say you are pro-vaccine, or did you lie on those podcasts? We have all of this on tape, by the way.”

Kennedy:

Senator, as you know, because it’s been repeatedly debunked that statement that I made on the Lex Fridman Podcast was a fragment of the statement.

He asked me, and anybody who actually goes and looks at that podcast will see this. He asked me, Are there vaccines that are safe and effective? And I said to him, some of the live vaccines are.

And I said, ‘There are no vaccines that are safe and effective,’ and I was going to continue, ‘for every person.’

Every medicine has people who are sensitive to them, including vaccines. He interrupted me at that point.

I’ve corrected it many times, including on national TV. You know about this, Senator Wyden, so bringing this up right now is dishonest.

Despite the fact that Kennedy exposed how disingenuous Wyden was about this past statement, Wyden continue to attack him as anti-vaccine.

The press did the same in the days that followed. Here are several examples where the same false claim was made against Kennedy using the misleading quote: There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective.

Jan 30th, Wall Street Journal: RFK Jr. Says He Is ‘Not Antivaccine’

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in his opening statement that he wasn’t “antivaccine.” In a July 2023 podcast interview, Kennedy said “there’s no vaccine that is, you know, safe and effective.”

Feb 13th, NBC New York: A look at Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s controversial health policy views

Kennedy has long been a vaccine skeptic, and he and Trump have falsely claimed that childhood vaccines are dangerous and tied to rising autism rates. His opposition to vaccines is broad, and he has said that “there’s no vaccine that is safe and effective.”

Feb 13th, Forbes:

In a podcast last year with Lex Fridman, Kennedy said “there’s no vaccine that is, you know, safe and effective.” He walked back the statement in a subsequent interview with CNN, calling it a “bad use of words” and has often denied that he’s anti-vaccine.

Feb 13th, New York Times:

The Senate has just confirmed as health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a science denialist who once said there is no vaccine that is safe and effective.

ONE EXCEPTION

**The New York Post should be recognized for accurately reporting about the there’s no vaccine that is safe and effective comment during his hearing.

The Post:

“Mr. Kennedy, you have spent years pushing conflicting stories about vaccines,” said Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), the top Democrat on the Finance Committee, during the first confirmation hearing.

“You say one thing and then you say another. In your testimony today, under oath, you denied that you were anti-vaccine. But during a podcast interview in July of 2023, you said, quote, ‘No vaccine is safe and effective.'”

“So are you lying to Congress today when you say you are pro-vaccine? Or did you lie on all those podcasts?” Wyden asked.

“I said, ‘There are no vaccines that are safe and effective,’” Kennedy replied. “And I was going to continue for every person, every medicine has people who are sensitive to them, including vaccines. He interrupted me at that point.”

Back in August, 2024, I wrote this Substack piece. I focused on repeated false claim that Kennedy believes there is no safe vaccine out there.

**RFK Jr.: "MY MOST CONTROVERSIAL ISSUE" - by Anne ...

https://youtu.be/XAtn39EJ9tU

The truth about vaccines and the American people

Bill Maher: You said that no vaccine is safe and effective.

CNN: There’s no vaccine that is, you know, safe and effective. Do you still believe that?

Kennedy: That statement comes from an interview where I was interrupted, and I didn’t get to complete my thought.

Kennedy: What I was actually saying that interview, and what I’ve said for 20 years, is that there is no such thing as a vaccine that is safe and effective for everyone. . . .

This fixation on finding anything—any word or comment—that could be used to discredit Robert Kennedy is a sign of a much bigger issue. Almost no one in the media or in politics wants to know why Kennedy has questions about vaccine safety.

Kennedy said,

Vaccines have side effects, just like every other drug. This shouldn’t be controversial, but it is.

I personally can’t think of any other medical product that is so above reproach. No one is allowed to cast aspersions on any aspect of the vaccine program. We are all just supposed to comply, especially when it comes to childhood vaccinations.

Kennedy says he wants to look into the safety studies done on vaccines pre licensure. That can’t be allowed either. All the science is done. All vaccines are safe for every child, or at least that is what we’re ordered to think.

Why is it wrong to ask these questions?

IF vaccines were really so thoroughly proven safe and the chance of side effects so minimal, there wouldn’t be all this distrust.

The study never done

And of course, the one simple way is dispel all our angst over vaccines would be to conduct a study (and health officials never tire of population studies) comparing the health outcomes of fully vaccinated and never vaccinated children.

IF never vaccinated children have the same rates of autism, dyslexia, asthma, seizure disorder, ADD, ADHD, diabetes, life-threatening allergies and all the other health problems rampant among children today, we could move on from this controversy. We would have proof that there is no link.

NO ONE IN CHARGE HAS BEEN WILLING TO DO THIS STUDY—UNTIL NOW.

I sincerely hope that when Robert Kennedy takes over at HHS, he will call for this research. It is years past the time it should have been done.

YOUR THOUGHTS?

Anne Dachel is Media Editor for Age of Autism.