Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has spent years disseminating false information about vaccines in a time when spreading conspiracy theories has become a powerful way to grow a constituency. The AP examined the impact of his work.
Padrig and Gina Fahey hold a photo of their son, Braden, 12, as they stand for a portrait in California on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2023. Braden collapsed at football practice in August 2022 and died of a malformed blood vessel in the brain. The Faheys couldn’t understand how Braden’s face appeared on the cover of the book “Cause Unknown,” which was co-published by an anti-vaccine group led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., or why his name appeared inside it. FILE - Presidential candidate Robert F.
Braden’s story is just one example of how Kennedy, son of the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, has used his famous name to disseminate false information about vaccines and other topics in a time when spreading conspiracy theories has become a powerful way to grow a constituency. An AP examination of his work and its impact found Kennedy has earned money, fame and political clout while leaving people like the Faheys suffering.
Braden’s parents have read vicious comments from people who falsely blame vaccines for their son’s death. They say seeing Braden’s memory being misrepresented by Kennedy and others has been deeply painful. The AP found dozens of individuals included in the book died of known causes not related to vaccines, including suicide, choking while intoxicated, overdose and allergic reaction. One person died in 2019.
Lyons said he was unaware of the Faheys’ efforts to contact his company and asked AP to share with them his contact information. He said he would make some corrections in future editions, including to Braden’s date of death, but said they were studying whether to remove him from the book or the cover.
The messages Kennedy shares have convinced a significant slice of the public, some of whom attend his campaign events proudly wearing pins with crossed-out syringes or repeating Kennedy’s talking points about vaccine ingredients. Greene, who lives in the Canadian province of Alberta, declined all vaccines for her son after buying into the claims by Kennedy and other anti-vaccine “gurus” that vaccines cause autism. When her son started to show signs of autism, Greene discounted it out of hand.
Sharon Goldfarb, is a family nurse practitioner in Berkeley, California, who spent the worst of the pandemic caring for people on society’s margins: people with no homes; people who were living in the country illegally; people with serious mental health needs. She has seen firsthand the consequences of vaccine misinformation and refusal.
COVID-19 vaccines were initially developed under the Trump administration, through the program Operation Warp Speed. But what his Republican-led administration viewed at the time as a point of pride has since become a topic of criticism in Republican circles, including among GOP presidential candidates who have expressed skepticism about the immunizations.
“It’s that kind of rhetoric that I think is really damaging,” Jolley said. “You worry when you think about the next pandemic or the next event or the next issue that’s going to come our way.”Kennedy’s role in legitimizing anti-vaccine activism has not been limited to the U.S. Perhaps the most well-known example was in 2019 on the Pacific island nation of Samoa.
Petousis-Harris recalled that local and regional anti-vaccine activists took their cues from Kennedy, whom she said “sits at the top of the food chain as a disinformation source.” But people who worked on the Samoan measles response told AP the credibility he gave to anti-vaccine forces when he met with them had an impact.
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