Folks who know the history of the Kennedy family and vaccines are likely surprised that RFK, Jr is holding a contest for his own organization using a visit to the Kennedy compound as a prize.
Can someone ask his mom?
Does she plan to go and does she support his work?
Do other members of the Kennedy family?
Why Is RFK, Jr Pimping out the Kennedy Compound to Anti-Vaxxers?
Before we look at the work of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, let’s review what the Kennedy family has done to help get vaccine-preventable diseases under control.
“Today is the sixteenth anniversary of the death of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. It is also the anniversary of the announcement that a vaccine has been discovered to prevent paralytic polio. Today over 90 million Americans have been vaccinated with the Salk vaccine. Over 80 million remain unvaccinated. Almost 4,800,000 children have not been vaccinated, and the majority of these are under five years of age. I hope that the renewed drive this spring and summer to provide vaccination for all Americans, and particularly those who are young, will have the wholehearted support of every parent in America. I hope that they, knowing some of the long range suffering which comes from an attack of polio — with this miraculous drug I hope that everyone takes advantage of it.”
President John F. Kennedy News Conference 9, April 12, 1961
In 1962, John F. Kennedy signed the Vaccination Assistance Act (Section 317 of the Public Health Service Act). It started as a three year program to help get kids vaccinated against polio, diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis, and has been continuously reauthorized ever since.
What else do we know about the Kennedy family and vaccines?
“Rose and maternal health and the health of her children were paramount for her as those children were growing up. She took great pride in getting them out into the countryside, getting them outside and walking through Brookline when they lived there, and getting them fresh air and getting them whatever medical needs they had. But she would say how fearful she was in the days before vaccines of how a child could pass away so quickly.”
Barbara Perry on The Life of Rose Kennedy
Why was she afraid if measles was so mild, as some folks still claim?
“Or take German Measles. We know German Measles during the first three months of pregnancy almost surely will deform the unborn child. Within the last few weeks, a new vaccine has been tested and preliminary results show it is 100% effective. It should be available within a year. Within our proposed clinics this new vaccine can be administered to children, immunizing them forever against a disease which can cause retardation in future generations. “
Eunice Kennedy Shriver speech before the Citizen’s Committee on Mental Retardation
Concerns about congenital rubella syndrome and German Measles (rubella) led many people to get vaccinated as soon as a vaccine was available.
Remember the rubella epidemic of 1964-65, when there were 12.5 million rubella virus infections, which “resulted in 11,250 therapeutic or spontaneous abortions, 2,100 neonatal deaths, and 20,000 infants born with congenital rubella syndrome?”
“It is most encouraging to learn that 28 million children have been vaccinated. This is a wonderful record. But in the great enthusiasm over the rubella program, attention has been removed from the effort to eradicate the common measles. As a result, the 22,231 reported common measles cases in 1968 have risen to 72,000 reported cases for 1971. All children between the ages of 1 and 12 should be immunized. You can help. Keep interest alive in both the common measles and German measles program.”
Speech by Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy March 1972
Maybe we simply need more folks like this advocating for vaccines today.
“Many of you perhaps may or may not know that old-fashioned measles can cause brain damage in children. Here in California as well as in other states, there are thousands of children who have not been vaccinated against this common childhood disease.”
Speech by Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy March 1972
How many people have Sargent Shriver’s Peace Corp volunteers help get vaccinated and protected around the world?
“We already have the ability to eradicate red measles, responsible for brain inflammation and mental retardation in one in a thousand cases affected by the disease. The measles vaccine and other vaccines are being administered in increasing numbers today, but we are still far from the kind of universal vaccination program that is necessary. Measles vaccines ought to be administered to every infant from nine months of age on.”
Sargent Shriver at the Special Convocation of George Peabody College (1965)
How many people are vaccinated and protected because of the work of the Kennedy family?
How many kids aren’t getting vaccinated because Robert F Kennedy, Jr is scaring their parents?
“The purpose of life is to contribute in some way to making things better.”
Robert F. Kennedy
An environmental lawyer, you really have to wonder why he hasn’t championed climate change, instead of going after vaccines, which have been found to be safe, with few risks, and necessary.
More on Why Is RFK, Jr Pimping out the Kennedy Compound to Anti-Vaxxers?
- VAXOPEDIA – What Happened to Kennedy’s Vaccination Safety Committee
- VAXOPEDIA – Doing the Math on Kennedy, Vaccines and Mercury
- VAXOPEDIA – Does the CDC Own Any Patents on Vaccines?
- VAXOPEDIA – Did the FDA Admit That the Government Is Recommending Untested, Unlicensed Vaccines for Pregnant Women?
- VAXOPEDIA – Did the US Government Lose a Landmark Vaccine Lawsuit?
- VAXOPEDIA – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on Vaccines
- President John F. Kennedy Legislative Summary Health
- President John F. Kennedy News Conference 9, April 12, 1961
- The Life of Rose Kennedy
- Robert Kennedy’s Dangerous Anti-Vaccine Activism
- Remarks on Senator Edward Moore Kennedy
- Special Convocation of George Peabody College
- Sargent Shriver Speeches & Public Appearances
- The Peace Corps’ Contributions to the Global Smallpox Eradication