Dr. Sanjay Gupta, a specialist in neurosurgery and the chief medical correspondent for CNN, articulated the overwhelming “alarm” within the medical community regarding the prospect of vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. possibly assuming the role of Secretary of Health and Human Services.
During Thursday’s broadcast of The Situation Room, Gupta informed anchor Wolf Blitzer that Kennedy’s unfounded assertions about vaccines are particularly concerning.
“He has made comments about COVID, specifically alleging that it was bioengineered to target specific demographic groups, but when it comes to vaccines, his remarks linking them to autism are what tend to garner the most attention,” he stated.
“It’s sometimes challenging to get a clear answer from him because he may express one viewpoint at one moment and then contradict it later or deny having said it. He has previously claimed that there are no vaccines that are completely safe and effective while also suggesting that some might be beneficial. His arguments largely center around infectious diseases.”
Gupta noted that the feedback he has received from his colleagues regarding Kennedy is quite negative.
“It’s accurate to say that the medical community is not a single entity. There are varied opinions, yet there’s considerable agreement concerning the apprehensions related to certain public health matters and RFK,” he remarked.
In the hour prior on CNN, Gupta mentioned that some individuals expressed “horror” about the thought of Kennedy in this position.
“Someone told me today, ‘I can’t think of anyone who would be more detrimental to public health than RFK.’”
Kennedy’s stances on vaccines starkly oppose those of experts in the field, including Mandy Cohen, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
At a health summit held on Wednesday, Cohen expressed her desire to prevent science from “regressing.”
“We tend to forget the experiences of holding a child afflicted by polio or comforting a mother who has lost her child to measles. It’s not been that long ago,” she stated.
“And I don’t want us to regress to the point where we need reminders of how effective vaccines are. They work. They protect our children. They are our best defense against these devastating diseases.”
If Kennedy were to oversee the country’s primary health agency, such regression could indeed occur. As CNN anchor Jake Tapper remarked earlier on Wednesday: “Well, America, I hope you enjoy measles.”
Kennedy’s trip to Samoa in 2019, during which he endorsed the views of notable vaccine opponents there, was linked to a measles outbreak that led to the deaths of 83 individuals.
