Health is wealth, except to RFK Jr.

By Izayah Morgan Opinions Editor Robert Francis Kennedy Jr., or RFK Jr. for short, is a prominent political leader and environmentalist. He is the nephew of former president John F. Kennedy and son of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy. He went into the “family business” and found himself heavily involved in environmentalism and advocating for the rights of young children. A very admirable thing to do. He is the founder of organizations that fight for children’s rights and advocate for clean water. President Trump has picked RFK Jr. to be the person to oversee the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). According to the HHS website, “HHS has 13 operating divisions, including 10 agencies in the U.S. Public Health Service and three human services agencies. These divisions administer a wide variety of health and human services and conduct life-saving research for the nation, protecting and serving all Americans.” It is a department which oversees the health of all Americans and is critical for us to succeed as a nation. I believe RFK. Jr wants to protect Americans and believes in helping people through providing them clean environments, which is shown by his credentials. However his view on certain areas of medicine concern me, to say the least. And at most, his views outright disqualify him from the position in my opinion. Let's start with his position on vaccines - to be clear vaccines are one of the great inventions of science and without them many more people would have died from sickness like COVID-19. For example, the Plague was estimated to kill 25 to 50 million people. Fast forward to today, where COVID-19 has taken over 7 million lives globally, according to the World Health Organization. At his Senate confirmation hearing last week, it was brought up that RFK Jr. claimed in a podcast interview in 2023 that “no vaccine is safe or effective.” He also claimed in a podcast he “would do anything to go back in time to not vaccinate his kids.” He claimed these statements were taken out of context. Independent U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont grilled RFK Jr. on his previous claim on a Fox News interview that “autism comes from vaccines.” There has been extensive scientific evidence that supports the opposite. Despite this, RFK Jr. dodged the question stating he won't go into HHS with any preconceived notions. But as Sen. Sanders said it is his job to read these studies and know the current scientific consensus - and I agree heavily. He also made comments that frustrated me as a Black man and terrified many Black people in this country. On Jan. 30 in his confirmation hearing Democratic senator from Maryland, Angela Alsobrooks, also grilled RFK Jr. on his comments about the immune systems of Black people. In an interview on Feb. 26, 2021 with Dr. Judy Mikovits, RFK Jr. claimed, “We should not be giving Black people the same vaccine schedule that is given to whites, because their immune system is better than ours.” His response was to say that in studies, mostly conducted in Poland, Black people had a much stronger reaction and “that there's differences in reactions to different products by different races.” In response Sen. Alsobrooks - who is a Black woman - asked, “What different vaccine schedule should I have received?” He claimed, “The Poland articles suggest that Blacks need fewer antigens.” I'll take Mr. Kennedy at his word and believe that these Polish studies do suggest that as their finding. There are, at most, a few studies out of Poland that suggest this and I think it's dangerous to proclaim that Black people need a different vaccine schedule than white people. Especially when the country we live in has a racist past with its medical treatment of Black people. There will be doctors that would treat us differently - as some still already do - then our white counterparts. Statements like RFK Jr.'s generalize medical treatment for an underserved community. Most people will not read the data or look at multiple studies. It is Mr. Kennedy's job to analyze this data from all over the world and protect people - not make broad statements about the vaccine cycles of Black people. RFK Jr. could still be a good man who wants to protect people, but I don't think - with his previous statements and his unwillingness to hear those around him who he hurt directly with his rhetoric - he is fit for office.