Fact checking RFK Jr.’s claims that resurfaced during his Senate confirmation hearings
During his confirmation hearings this week for secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced intense questioning from senators on his views regarding vaccines, abortion, conspiracy theories, agriculture, and Lyme disease, among other things.
Throughout the hearing, Kennedy leaned on a mix of false and misleading claims.
Here’s a closer look at the facts:
Kennedy won’t agree that COVID-19 vaccines save lives
Senator Bernie Sanders asked Kennedy on Thursday if he agrees that COVID-19 vaccines are lifesaving. Kennedy refused to be pinned down, saying there’s no good surveillance system.
Fact check: Numerous studies have shown that vaccinated people are far less likely to contract COVID-19, to be hospitalized for it and to die of it than those who forgo the shots. The CDC reported in February 2024 that people who received the updated COVID-19 vaccine were 54 percent less likely to get COVID-19 during the four-month period from mid-September 2023 to January 2024 than those who were unvaccinated. They were also 50 percent less likely to visit urgent care or an emergency department for COVID symptoms, 50 percent less likely to be hospitalized and 70 percent less likely to become critically ill from COVID-19 in the first two months after vaccination. A major analysis of 21,618,297 COVID-19 patients published in 2023 found that unvaccinated people in the United States were 2.46 times more likely to die of COVID-19 than those who were unvaccinated. Another analysis from 2022 estimated that COVID vaccines prevented 3.2 million US deaths and saved the country $1.15 trillion.
Kennedy refuses to reject discredited theory that vaccines cause autism
Sanders demanded Thursday that Kennedy say that vaccines do not cause autism. Kennedy replied, saying that he will look at the studies to see if the data is there. “That is a very troubling response because the studies are there,” Sanders replied back.
Fact check: Kennedy has repeatedly linked vaccines to autism. Yet many large, independent science reviews have concluded that vaccines do not cause autism. A 2002 review of medical records of more than 500,000 children in Denmark found “strong evidence against the hypothesis that MMR vaccination causes autism.” An exhaustive 2004 review by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine rejected the claim the two were linked. A 2015 study of more than 95,000 children also found no link. Separately, researchers in the UK in 2004 investigated claims that other childhood vaccines – diphtheria-tetanus-whole-cell pertussis (DTP) or diphtheria-tetanus (DT) vaccination – were linked to attention deficit disorders or other neurodevelopmental problems – speech and language problems, behavioral problems, etc. – by studying info on nearly 110,000 children and found no evidence of a link.
RFK Jr. said he’s not ‘anti-vaccine’
Claim: In his opening statement Wednesday, Kennedy rejected the “anti-vaccine” label. “I believe that vaccines play a critical role in health care,” Kennedy told the committee.
Fact check: Kennedy and his associates have asked the federal government several times to revoke approvals of life-saving vaccines. In May, 2021, Kennedy co-signed a petition to the FDA saying the agency should “revoke Emergency Use Authorization” for existing and future COVID vaccines and not approve or license them. Additionally, an attorney, Aaron Siri, helping Kennedy pick health officials for the Trump administration, petitioned the government in 2022 to revoke its approval of a polio vaccine, and to state that the vaccine does “not prevent poliovirus transmission.” In 2019, Kennedy represented a group of New York parents who sued the state for removing religious exemptions for childhood vaccine mandates – in the wake of a large measles outbreak.
RFK Jr. says he was accused of being a conspiracy theorist for saying fluoride lowers IQ
Claim: During his confirmation hearing Wednesday, Kennedy referenced a study that found a correlation between fluoride and IQ.
Fact check: Fluoride is a mineral that’s naturally present in many foods, including brewed black tea. A federal report released this year tied higher levels of fluoride intake — more than 1.5 milligrams of fluoride per liter of water — with slightly lower IQs in children. In September, a federal judge ordered the EPA to investigate the effects of fluoride on children’s intellectual development further but cautioned that it’s not certain that the amount of fluoride typically added to water is causing problems. Since 2015, the recommended level of fluoridation in the United States is 0.7 milligrams per liter — a level maintained by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority. There is little to no evidence linking community water fluoridation with other adverse health effects, such as increased risk for cancer, heart disease, or serious neurological disorders, according to the CDC.
RFK Jr. claims his 2019 trip to Samoa had ‘nothing to do with vaccines’
Claim: Kennedy claimed Wednesday that his 2019 trip to Samoa had “nothing to do with vaccines.”
Fact check: He visited the nation as health officials were trying to get the vaccine program back on track after vaccine rates plummeted following the deaths of two children who died when injected with a vaccine that was improperly mixed with a muscle relaxant. While there, Kennedy met with government officials as well as with anti-vaccine activists, including an anti-vaccine influencer who posted a photograph of herself and Kennedy on her Instagram. She called the meeting “profoundly monumental” for the movement. A few months later, a measles epidemic broke out, killing 83 people, mostly infants and children in a population of about 200,000.
Kay Lazar can be reached at kay.lazar@globe.com Follow her @GlobeKayLazar. Anna Kuchment can be reached at anna.kuchment@globe.com. Follow her @akuchment. Jason Laughlin can be reached at jason.laughlin@globe.com. Follow him @jasmlaughlin. Alyssa Vega can be reached at alyssa.vega@globe.com.
