Summary

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s claim that he “had nothing to do with people not vaccinating in Samoa” during the 2019 measles epidemic is not credible.

While a 2018 vaccine mishap and subsequent pause primarily caused low vaccination rates, Kennedy’s engagement with the Samoan government, his promotion of anti-vaccine influencers, and his amplification of misinformation contributed to vaccine hesitancy.

The epidemic caused 83 deaths, primarily among children, with a mortality rate over 1%.

Kennedy has since downplayed his role, despite evidence of his involvement in anti-vaccine advocacy.

  • cowfodder@lemmy.world
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    15 days ago

    Going to once again suggest listening to the Behind the Bastards episodes about him. He’s a psycho.

    • BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world
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      14 days ago

      John Oliver did a segment on him too. The thing that pisses me off most about RFK Jr is his use of a child’s untimely death to imply COVID vaccines caused his death (when the kid wasn’t even vaccinated against COVID). Shit like that is torturous to parents and as a parent it makes me livid.

    • MutilationWave@lemmy.world
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      14 days ago

      Man that was a rollercoaster. First episode, I think I like this kid.

      Second episode, yeah I do like him and he’s also funny and a badass that threatened a cop in an incredible way to try to save his friend, when he could have saved himself.

      Third episode, on yeah this guy is kind of a piece of shit.

      Forth episode, he should be in prison for the rest of his life for what he’s done.

  • GroundedGator@lemmy.world
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    14 days ago

    Strange, this is the first time I’ve heard of the Samoan measles outbreak. It does sound very similar to the RFK Jr Measles Outbreak though.

  • arc@lemm.ee
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    13 days ago

    RFK jr is a child killer. As in he killed children. Not directly but knowingly with misinformation that he used to manipulate others to cause their deaths. He is a fucking monster.

  • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
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    14 days ago

    What’s worse… denying healthcare claims for money, or convincing people to avoid life saving care because your a dumb fucking idiot or have a nefarious agenda.

  • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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    13 days ago

    This asshat is extremely dangerous to the lives of Americans and people worldwide.

    If Brainworms is given free reign, it’s quite possible he ends up responsible for more deaths than donvict’s policies do in his second term (even if you count the victims of his stochastic terrorism). It might even surpass the amount of death attributed to donvict in his failures in his first term during Covid…