Dr Paul Offit: RFK Jr. Is a science denialist & anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist.

‘A dangerous moment’: FDA advisory committee member on RFK Jr.’s potential role
Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center and an infectious diseases physician at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, weighs in on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s potential role in the second Trump administration.

"Well, to be honest, I can't believe we're actually having this conversation. I mean, if you look on science, know that science and technological advances have allowed us to live 30 years longer than we did a hundred years ago."

"And now you have this man, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who's a science denialist, a virulent anti-vaccine activist, a conspiracy theorist who will have some sway over public health. Nothing good can come of that. He denies those advances. He simply declares his own scientific truths. It's a dangerous moment."

"He said, if vaccines are working for some people, the polio vaccine has virtually eliminated a virus that caused 30,000 cases of paralysis and 1,500 deaths a year. The Hemophilus influenza B vaccine, that bacterial vaccine, has virtually eliminated the 20 to 25,000 cases of meningitis and bloodstream infections."

"The diphtheria vaccine has eliminated what was most common killer of teenagers. The pertussis or whooping cough vaccine have virtually eliminated the 8,000 deaths. If vaccines are working, I mean, it just doesn't make a bit of sense. I mean, he's a conspiracy theorist. I mean, he you label him as a vaccine skeptic. He's not a vaccine skeptic."

"I'm a vaccine skeptic. Everyone who sits around the table at the FDA Vaccine Advisory Committee is a skeptic. Right. Show us the data. Show us the data. Prove that it's safe and effective. He's not a skeptic. He's a cynic. He doesn't believe those data. He thinks there's a big conspiracy to hide the truth, making him a dangerous man."

"I mean, when we sat down in December of 2020 to discuss the two mRNA vaccines for COVID, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, we, the FDA vaccine advisory committee, reviewed about 800 pages of data. That was all on the FDA's website. Anybody could look at those data."

"So, nothing's being hidden. See, when he says that, when he says we need to really see the data, he's implying that data are being hidden, that somehow there is an unholy alliance between the pharmaceutical industry and the FDA to hide the truth from the American public. a truth only he will reveal. So he's basically claiming that there's a problem. It doesn't really exist."

"Well, listen to what he just said. He just said that he thinks that fruit loops. contains certain ingredients that are dangerous. Fine, I mean, and so what he should do were he a reasonable manager, he would then go to the groups, whether it's the FDA or the USDA, and say, look, I think this might be a problem, let's look at this, right? And then look at the data, because I'm sure there are things they know that he doesn't know."

"And then if there is a problem, it can be investigated and fixed. You don't just eliminate agencies. But when he talks about eliminating agencies, he's tipping his hand. for the fact that he's a conspiracy theorist and he thinks that all these groups are lying to the American public. I worry about him greatly, but I don't think he could really be confirmed as head of the CDC. I just can't imagine that people would, knowing what he does and knowing what he says, would confirm him for that position."

"What worries me is that some of his anti-vaccine cronies, like Dr. Joseph Ladapo in Florida would be confirmed for that position because at least Ladapo was credentialed. He's an MD, PhD from Harvard, but he too is a virulent anti-vaccine activist as he's shown in Florida. I worry for this country's children."