An Insider's View of RFK, Jr. and the Risks to Public Health

Famed virologist Dr. Paul Offit describes his encounters with RFK, Jr., vaccine misinformation, trust in medicine, and what he fears most.

REFERENCES:

• Dr. Paul Offit’s Books:
  
  
  • Deadly Choices: How the Anti-Vaccine Movement Threatens Us All
    
    
  • The Cutter Incident(about a polio vaccine gone wrong)
    
    
• Historical Vaccine References:
  
  
  • The Cutter Incident (1950s polio vaccine failure)
    
    
  • The history of polio, iron lungs, and the development of the Salk and Sabin vaccines.
    
    
  • The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program.
    
    
  • The impact of vaccines on childhood diseases like diphtheria, measles, mumps, rubella, and rotavirus.
    
    
• Andrew Wakefield and Vaccine-Autism Misinformation:
  
  
  • Wakefield’s 1998 Lancet paper (later retracted) linking MMR vaccines to autism.
    
    
  • The role of The Lancet and editor Richard Horton.
    
    
  • The legal and financial conflicts of interest that led to Wakefield’s discrediting.
    
    
• Anti-Vaccine Movement History:
  
  
  • The Anti-Vaccination League (1800s opposition to smallpox vaccine).
    
    
  • NBC’s DPT Vaccine Roulette (1980s), which fueled fears about the whooping cough vaccine.
    
    
  • RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine activism and misinformation campaigns.
    
    
  • The impact of anti-vaccine movements in places like Samoa, leading to deadly measles outbreaks.
    
    
• Current Vaccine Issues and Policy Changes:
  
  
  • RFK Jr.'s role in the U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) and vaccine policy.
    
    
  • The cancellation of the FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee meeting.