The jokes about U.S Secretary of Health and Human Resources, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and his totally irresponsible beliefs and actions on vaccines, have been rife since the idiot Republicans in the U.S. Senate confirmed him, at Donald Trump’s insistence. Even before that Kennedy’s reputation in the medical community was at rock bottom. The only reason anyone listened to him at all, was that his name was Kennedy, and he was a member of that famous clan – every family has its share of dangerous idiots, but most keep them well hidden. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen with RFK Jr.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), in other words RFK Jr., announced plans to cancel $500m (£376m) in funding for mRNA vaccines being developed to counter viruses like the flu and Covid-19. The move will impact 22 projects being led by major pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer and Moderna, for vaccines against bird flu and other viruses, HHS said. Kennedy announced he was pulling the funding over claims that “mRNA technology poses more risks than benefits for these respiratory viruses”. This is lunacy, and the blame goes straight back to Trump and the Republicans in the U.S. Senate who confirmed Kennedy’s appointment.
Doctors and health experts have criticised Kennedy’s longstanding questioning of the safety and efficacy of vaccines and his debunked views on health policies. The development of mRNA vaccines to target Covid-19 was critical in helping slow down the pandemic and saving millions of lives, said Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Dr. Offit also said that Kennedy’s move will put the US in a “more dangerous” position to respond to any potential future pandemic, since mRNA vaccines have a shorter development cycle, which is why they were able to be used to respond to the Covid pandemic.
In a statement, Kennedy said his team had “reviewed the science, listened to the experts, and acted. “The data show these vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu,” he said. He said the department was shifting the funding toward “safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate”. Virtually the entire medical community thinks this is total bullshit, perpetrated by someone who, in a sensible society, should never be let anywhere near public office, let alone public policy making, but they are afraid of speaking out and bringing down the rath of the President. How many Americans will have to die before a sense of responsibility, and sense, returns to U.S. politics and the medical community. Impeach RFK Jr. yesterday!
The mRNA vaccines are “remarkably safe” and key to helping prevent against severe infections from viruses like Covid, said Dr. Offit, who invented the rotavirus vaccine. However, HHS said the department that runs the projects, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), would focus on “platforms with stronger safety records and transparent clinical and manufacturing data practices”.
While some vaccines use an inactivated virus to trigger an immune response, mRNA vaccines work by teaching cells how to make proteins that can trigger an immune response. Moderna and Pfizer’s mRNA vaccines were tested in thousands of people before being rolled out and were found to be safe and effective.
Since taking office, Kennedy has taken a number of steps to transform how the nation’s health department develops and regulates vaccines. In June, he fired all 17 members of a committee that issues official government recommendations on immunisations, replacing them with some people who have criticized the safety and efficacy of vaccines. He also removed the Covid vaccine from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s recommended immunization schedule for healthy children and pregnant women.
How much more of this idiocy are we going to tolerate in “bending the knee” to the President’s whims and delusions?
