RFK Jr. defunds mRNA vaccine research. His anti-vax policies will kill people.
In his ongoing crusade to make America sicker and dumber, Health and Human Services Secretary (I bristle every time I type that title) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has axed about $500 million in vital mRNA vaccine research funding.
It's the latest salvo in Kennedy's war against science, and it's about as predictably stupid as any of the Neanderthal-brained things he has done since President Donald Trump foisted him on the American public. (My apologies to any Neanderthals offended by the comparison.)
You might recall being fortunate beyond measure to receive mRNA vaccine shots during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Nobel Prize-winning vaccine development saved millions of lives globally and was hailed by Trump himself as a 'medical miracle.'
'This may be the most dangerous public health judgment that I've seen'
Messenger RNA, or mRNA, vaccines are far more nimble and easier to produce and alter than traditional vaccines, so continued development is seen as crucial ‒ not just for future pandemics but for everything from responding to bioterrorism attacks to cancer prevention.
Michael Osterholm, head of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, told NPR this when asked about Kennedy's mRNA funding decision: 'This may be the most dangerous public health judgment that I've seen in my 50 years in this business. ... It is baseless, and we will pay a tremendous price in terms of illnesses and deaths.'
Every day RFK Jr. is in charge is a bad day for science
In a New York Times report, University of Pennsylvania immunologist Scott Hensley, who has been researching an mRNA flu vaccine, said: 'This is a bad day for science.'
That can be said about every day as long as we have a wholly unqualified anti-vaccine nutter like Kennedy in charge of America's health.
And remember, as with all things RFK Jr., his 'concerns' and 'fears' about mRNA vaccines are wholly unfounded and not supported by science. They are safe and have been studied for decades.
It's ridiculous that Kennedy is in this position following a lifetime of gargling conspiratorial and dangerous health nonsense, but his actions are now deadly serious, and they're often cloaked by the daily insanity spun up by Trump himself, from tariffs to migrant cruelty to the Jeffrey Epstein scandal.
Out go the smart people, in come the vaccine skeptics
In June, Kennedy fired all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and replaced them with people he handpicked (that's a red flag if I've ever seen one), including several vaccine skeptics. Now they're reexamining your children's vaccine schedule and echoing baseless fears heard in anti-vax circles for years.
Kennedy is also reportedly considering getting rid of all members of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which gives guidance to doctors and health insurers on preventive medicine.
Dr. Thomas Lew, an assistant clinical professor of medicine at the Stanford University School of Medicine and frequent contributor for USA TODAY Opinion, told CBS News: "This will greatly damage all the work we've done in preventative care, making people sicker, and driving up costs and premiums. To put it mildly, this is extremely concerning ‒ and doing the opposite of making America healthy.'
Kennedy is so bad for health that he's being sued by major medical groups
Kennedy has removed the COVID-19 vaccine from the recommended immunization schedule for healthy children and pregnant women, prompting a lawsuit from leading medical groups like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the American College of Physicians.
At the end of March, the highly respected top vaccine regulator at the Food and Drug Administration was forced out, and wrote in his resignation letter: 'It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies.'
Food inspections? Hand washing? What's next to come under RFK Jr.'s ax?
Whether through Trump's magical branding skills or Republican malpractice or both, Kennedy was able to take on enough of a veneer of credibility to become health secretary.
But he is still the same raw-milk-guzzling, roadkill-eating, vaccine-alarmist dipstick he was for all those years when his gibberish was nothing more than a punchline for jokes about conspiracy-addled loons.
And he is now doing things that are making us fundamentally less safe, whether by sowing doubt about vaccines, derailing medical research or curbing food safety inspections.
Kennedy's policies are almost certainly going to kill people
A year ago, if you asked me and many other sane people to come up with the most irresponsible public figure to put in charge of America's health, we would have said RFK Jr. And here we are, staring down radical changes inspired not by science but by suspicion and opportunistic hearsay.
The ineptitude and absurdity of the Trump administration can be almost laughable at times. But I'm convinced people will die because of Kennedy's policies, weirdo worldviews and actions.
And I'm not laughing a bit.
Follow USA TODAY columnist Rex Huppke on Bluesky at @rexhuppke.bsky.social and on Facebook at facebook.com/RexIsAJerk
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