The Man With the Predator Pets
In 2018 two nurses in Samoa prepared what should have been routine measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccines with an expired anesthetic instead of water, and administered them to two infants, who died. The Samoan government suspended vaccinations for 10 months, and the nation was bombarded with anti-vaccination messages, including from RFK Jr. and his nonprofit Children’s Health Defense. That year only 31% of Samoan children received the MMR vaccine, leading to nearly 3,000 infections in the nation of 200,000, and 39 deaths by November 2019. Kate O’Brien, head of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) immunization department at the time, told the Guardian that the effect of misinformation about vaccine safety was “being measured in the lives of children who had died” in the course of the outbreak. By January 2020 5,700 people had been infected, resulting in 83 deaths, with most of the victims under 5 years old.
Kennedy was an independent candidate for the presidency in 2024, but suspended his campaign August 23 throwing his support behind Donald Trump. On November 14, 2024 Trump announced that RFK Jr. would serve as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, contradicting then-Trump-spokesman Howard Lutnick’s denial to CNN that Kennedy would have a role in a Trump HHS department.
Kennedy’s crusade against vaccines may in part be grounded in his belief that they are responsible for his characteristic vocal disorder, spasmodic dysphonia (SD). As reported by the LA Times, while working on litigation against the makers of flu vaccines in 2016 Kennedy noticed SD on the list of possible side-effects. (As the above-linked article notes, the causes of SD are not known, and it is thought to be associated with more general central nervous system disorders.)
Although not related to vaccines, another episode in Kennedy’s life experience may have focused his attention on brain disorders. In May 2024 the NY Times revealed that at one time Kennedy believed he had a dead worm in his head. In 2010 he was reportedly experiencing memory loss and “mental fogginess.” Kennedy, whose uncle Ted died in 2009 of brain cancer, then consulted several neurologists. One of the doctors he consulted suggested that he might have a “dead parasite in his head.” In a 2012 deposition related to divorce proceedings Kennedy stated that “a worm … got into my brain and ate a portion of it and then died.” An explainer published in Scientific American noted that the more common path for such parasites – which typically come from eating undercooked pork – is to infect the intestines. The typical cycle would be that the worm’s eggs would then travel out of the human in feces, possibly be consumed by a pig again, and the cycle would continue. For a worm to reach the human brain the human would have to ingest feces, the eggs would hatch in the intestines, and the worms could then penetrate the intestinal wall and potentially travel to any organ of the body.
In January 2025 Caroline Kennedy – RFK Jr.’s cousin – wrote an impassioned letter to the US Senate, warning by implication that “Bobby,” as she called him, was not knowledgeable, would not embrace excellence or evidence, and would reject medical advances. “It’s no surprise he keeps birds of prey as pets,” she wrote, “because he is a predator.” “Bobby’s” predator pets had come up during his testimony in a lawsuit challenging his claim to reside in New York State while trying to get on the state presidential ballot. Kennedy’s California Falconry License from 2015 was entered into evidence, as was a video of him feeding his pet ravens. Kennedy testified that he first learned about training hawks while attending a boarding school in Millbrook, NY when he was 14, following the assassination of his father, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy.
In April 2025 Kennedy announced that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) would undertake a “massive testing and research effort” into the causes of autism. Medical website Stat News has characterized Kennedy as having “spent a career arguing that vaccines … cause autism.” Stat News identifies three of the arguments that have been proposed about vaccines causing autism:
- Preservatives or adjuvants that are toxic, the most commonly cited being thimerosal
- An immune system response to the MMR vaccine. This was proposed in a 1988 study by Andrew Wakefield, and subsequently retracted by The Lancet.
- The increasing number of vaccines administered to children.
The thimerosal theory was debunked when diagnoses of autism continued to climb after the preservative was removed or drastically reduced from vaccine preparations 20 years ago as a precautionary measure. There was no evidence that thimerosal was actually harmful.
The MMR theory was discredited when a six-year investigation by British journalist Brian Deer uncovered selective use of data, data manipulation, and a conflict of interest. (Researcher Andrew Wakefield had applied for a patent for his own version of the measles vaccine.)
The bogus theory that “receiving too many shots of all types somehow results in an immune reaction” that causes autism was presented by Trump in 2015. Referring to “38 vaccines” in a social media post Trump declared “a baby cannot handle such tremendous trauma.” Researchers debunked these claims on two general grounds: (1) data don’t indicate that receiving vaccines increases the risk of other infections, and (2) vaccines have become more targeted over time, so that while children may receive more vaccines, they are likely receiving fewer antigens than in the past.
Moreover, a 2013 study by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found “no relationship between a measure of these vaccine antibodies and risk of an autism diagnosis.”
RFK Jr. has proposed cutting the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) budget by 50 percent, laid off the entire staff that oversaw an annual survey of infant and maternal health, placed the staff of the federal Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention program on administrative leave, and ended the program at the National Center for Environmental Health that works to keep drinking water safe and monitors environmental factors contributing to childhood asthma.
In June 2025 Kennedy fired the 17 members of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), the committee that recommends to the CDC which vaccines people in the US should receive and on what schedule. This appeared to renege on a pledge he made during his confirmation hearings not to interfere with vaccination programs. There was immediate reaction from the medical community, including a warning from Bruce Scott, president of the American Medical Association (AMA), that the action would “further fuel the spread of vaccine-preventable illnesses.” An HHS statement indicated that new ACIP members would be named before a meeting scheduled later in the month. Kennedy had already circumvented usual ACIP procedure by announcing on May 27th that the COVID-19 vaccine would no longer be approved for children or healthy pregnant people. In August 2025 HHS also cancelled $500 million in funding for research into mRNA vaccines, including those intended to treat cancer.
Then on Wednesday, August 27th, Kennedy tried to fire the new CDC director, Dr. Susan Monarez. After a government social media account announced that Monarez was no longer CDC director, Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Director Demetre Daskalakis, and National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases Director Dan Jernigan resigned as well. Monarez subsequently explained in a piece in the Wall Street Journal that Kennedy had pressured her to resign or face termination unless she agreed to “preapprove the recommendations of a vaccine advisory panel newly filled with people who have publicly expressed antivaccine rhetoric.” As of September 3 more than one thousand current and former CDC employees had signed a letter formally calling for Kennedy’s resignation.
The AP documented multiple false claims Kennedy made during a September 4 Senate hearing reviewing his job performance as head of HHS. He seemed skeptical that the COVID-19 vaccine had saved lives – something well-documented by the World Health Organization (WHO) and others. He incorrectly claimed that the anyone could obtain the COVID-19 booster shot, which the current administration had only approved for adults over 65 or others with underlying conditions. He claimed no one knew how many Americans died from COVID-19, when in fact data is available from the CDC and WHO. He denied having blamed school shootings on antidepressants. While technically true, he had announced on Fox News that the National Institutes of Health would be studying how psychiatric drugs might contribute to violence. He claimed that “children have to get between 69 and 92 vaccines” by age 18, casting doubt on their safety by adding “Only one of those vaccines has been tested against a placebo.” In practice the number of vaccines a child receives can vary based on factors such as the type of vaccine, etc.
At a dinner hosted by Ben Carson’s American Cornerstone Institute on September 20, Trump touted his upcoming press conference regarding autism, calling it “important” without providing specifics. He hyped the announcement again while speaking at the memorial service for right-wing media personality Charlie Kirk, saying it would be “amazing,” and claiming his administration had found “an answer to autism.” The Wall Street Journal had reported in early September that RFK Jr. would claim a link between autism in children and acetaminophen consumption by pregnant mothers, despite a large study in Sweden having found no link. In 2021 the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists issued a statement declaring no change in their clinical guidance concerning the drug, which it called “one of the only safe pain relievers for pregnant individuals during pregnancy.”
During the highly hyped press conference on September 23, Trump asserted unproven and in some cases discredited connections between Tylenol (Kenvue corporation’s popular brand of acetaminophen), vaccines, and autism. There were no immediate reports that members of the Trump family or administration had made investments (such as “puts” ) ahead of the announcement that would benefit from a decline in the Kenvue stock price.
Also at the news conference was Dr. Marty Makary, Trump’s FDA Commissioner, who announced that the administration was taking action to promote the drug leucovorin for people with autism, including making changes to the drug’s label. Leucovorin is currently used to treat low levels of folate, a necessary nutrient. Only small clinical trials, mostly outside the US have indicated any positive effect with autism. Autism experts interviewed by NBC expressed concern that the FDA recommendations could give families of children with autism false hopes. Not all children with autism will qualify for a prescription, and the effect of the drug is uncertain. California supplement retailer iHerb sells folinic acid, the generic name for leucovorin. Trump administration Medicare and Medicaid Administrator, former talk show host Dr. Mehmet Oz, invested in iHerb, but pledged in February to divest his holdings within 90 days. In another filing, however, Oz indicated he might retain some shares until iHerb goes public or is bought. FDA approval is also apparently only for prescription leucovorin, not over-the-counter equivalents.
The Independent (UK)’s Eric Garcia suggests that Trump’s fascination with autism dates back to his association in the 1980s with former NBC Universal executive Bob Wright. Trump and Wright met when Wright was head of GE Capital which then owned NBC. At the time Trump was trying to promote a construction project above the site of the Penn Central rail yards dubbed Television City at first, but eventually (inevitably) Trump City. Needless to say the project did not happen.
Wright later founded Autism Speaks with his wife Suzanne, “inspired by their grandson who was diagnosed with autism.” Autism Speaks states unequivocally that “vaccines do not cause autism,” but the Wright’s daughter, Katie, mother of the child with autism, served on the board of RFK Jr.’s Children’s Health Defense (see above). Trump hosted leaders of Autism Speaks at Mar-a-Lago in 2007, where he opined that infants were receiving too many vaccinations at one time. Alison Singer, who at the time was president of Autism Speaks, told the NY Times, that she believed Trump was legitimately interested in finding causes of autism, but “said the scientific questions around vaccines and autism were settled, and there was no link.”
Lobbyist Craig Snyder suggested to the Times that there was a political dimension to Trump’s focus on autism – that he was fulfilling a campaign promise to the MAHA voters whom he sees as an important part of his constituency.
RFK’s obsession with autism may be rooted in his family history. Speaking to The Hill in June 2025, Zoe Gross, director of advocacy for the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, noted that when Kennedy was growing up autism was not part of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM). Gross suggested that Kennedy’s insistence that he has never seen anyone of his generation with “full-blown autism” could be explained by the fact that such diagnoses were very rare in the 40s and 50s. Instead, “children thought to be mentally or neurologically disabled” were institutionalized.
RFK Jr.’s aunt, Rosemary Kennedy, daughter of Joseph and Rose Kennedy and sister to John, Robert, and Ted, experienced developmental delays growing up. The trend at the time would have been to institutionalize her, but as historian and biographer Kate Clifford Larson told The Hill, “Rose Kennedy … didn’t believe in that, and … thought the best place for Rosemary was at home.” Joe Kennedy, who Larson describes as “nervous and afraid,” authorized a lobotomy for Rosemary in 1941 when she was 23. RFK Jr., born in 1954, would likely have had opportunities to observe his aunt, who died in 2005. Another of his aunts, Eunice Kennedy Shriver, founded the Special Olympics, a sports organization for people with intellectual disabilities. Her son, Anthony Shriver, RFK Jr.’s cousin, founded Best Buddies International, which provides mentorship and companionship to people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, in an effort to help them gain social skills, job training, and improve their independence. Historian Larson says RFK Jr. was part of those family endeavors. “He visited those horrific institutions as a teenager and young man. He saw how horrible they were.”
A recent Washington Post-KFF poll found that few parents believe RFK Jr.’s false assertions about vaccines, but nearly as many people did not know what to believe as rejected the claims outright. Political scientist Brendan Nyhan commented that this is “precisely why having our public health leaders be cranks and charlatans is so dangerous.”
Salon’s Amanda Marcotte writes that Kennedy’s war on vaccines is fundamentally misogyny. Using his opposition to the hepatitis B vaccine as an example, Marcotte cites a series of MAHA claims that it is only useful for “drug addicts and people who have risky sex.” Marcotte found that some MAHA mothers resented the pre-existing recommendation that newborns receive the hepatitis B vaccine as somehow denigrating their moral purity – this despite the fact that, as pediatrician Dr. Paul Offit noted in the NY Times, unvaccinated infants can contract hepatitis B from “relatively casual contact from people who had chronic hepatitis B.
Marcotte sees Kennedy’s claim of association between acetaminophen and autism as another instance of right-wing stereotyping. For MAHA, politically correct motherhood is “a state of endless self-sacrifice.” Noting that the drug is currently recommended during pregnancy only to treat “high fevers that can be dangerous for both the mother and the developing fetus,” Marcotte writes that “the vision of a woman enduring misery to ‘protect’ her baby is romanticized by the right — even if the suffering would, in this case, only risk the health of the baby.” Along with other recommendations, this directive highlights what Marcotte calls MAHA’s focus on shaming women. The so-called MAHA Commission report released September 9 “includes almost no substantive proposals for government action to improve child health,” Marcotte writes, and instead is focused on communicating to parents Kennedy’s views on raising children. “… [T]he larger moralism that fuels the MAHA movement has made women ‘impure’, and children’s health problems are a direct result.” Citing the recent measles outbreak in Texas, Marcotte notes that MAHA believers “don’t appear to care if children die. They seem to view such tragedies as a price to pay to uphold a right-wing values system that is obsessed with ideas of purity and traditional gender roles. The anti-vaccine views are wrapped into larger sexist attitudes…”
Neurodiverse people and advocates have called Kennedy’s characterizations of autistic people ableist. A post of his on X (formerly Twitter) in April declared that autistic children would never pay taxes, hold a job, play baseball, or go on a date. “Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted,” he added. Autism advocates called the post “stigmatizing.” Kala Allen Omeiza, founder of the nonprofit I’m Heard, which works to combat stigmatization in diverse communities told HuffPost’s Brittany Wong, “All autistic lives are valuable not just because of what we can do for society, but because we are human.” In her April 17 article responding to Kennedy’s statements, Wong underscores that autism “plays out differently for different people.” As neurodiversity coach Mykayla Whitmarsh, herself diagnosed with autism told Wong, many autistic children do grow up to form meaningful relationships, hold jobs, create poetry or visual art, etc. Others may need various kinds of assistance but nonetheless lead fulfilling lives. “The idea that we only deserve support if we can prove our potential is one of the most dangerous and insidious forms of ableism,” Allen Omeiza added. Characterizing neurodiversity as something that must be eliminated, rather than something requiring support she called “terrifying.”
Kennedy’s rhetoric implying that life only has value if one is participating in society in what Wong calls “a traditionally-prescribed way” has been compared to the eugenics movement, which in the early 20th century promoted sterilization and institutionalization of people with disabilities. Dom Kelly of disability rights advocacy group New Disabled South went further, calling Kennedy’s modus “dehumanization.” Kelly sees a clear path from Kennedy’s rhetoric to the kind of forced sterilization, institutionalization, and ultimately mass killing that characterized the Nazi extermination program in World War II – something historian Edwin Black has identified as “underpinned by the work of American eugenicists.”