In 1952, "during the worst polio outbreak in U.S. history, 57,000 people were infected, 21,000 were paralyzed and 3,145 died, most of them children," History.com reported. "Pools and movie theaters were shuttered, and panicked parents kept their kids at home, haunted by black-and-white images of toddlers in leg braces and rows of infants sealed in iron lungs."
The CDC estimates that since 1988, decades after the first polio vaccine was created, "global polio cases have decreased by more than 99%. As a result, an estimated 20 million people who would have been paralyzed by the disease are walking today, and more than 1.5 million lives have been saved."
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Now, resurfaced video (below) of RFK Jr. from a podcast just last year declaring "there is no vaccine that is, you know, safe and effective," has gone viral on social media. It was also the subject of FactCheck.org report showing he incorrectly claimed to have never made that statement.
"I have never said that," Kennedy in a PBS Newshour interview from November, 2023. "You are wrong. And you’re making something up."
"If you are reading reports about me in the mainstream media, including this network, they’re almost all inaccurate," Kennedy also alleged, according to FactCheck.org.
Kennedy is an environmental lawyer, an anti-vaccine activist, and has a "history of trafficking in conspiracy theories." He is not a physician or infectious disease scientist.
The remarks he made just after declaring no vaccine is safe and effective are also concerning medical experts.
FactCheck.org's report says, Kennedy "misleadingly suggested that the polio vaccines given to his generation caused cancer — despite a lack of evidence that this is true."
"The polio vaccine contained a virus called simian virus 40, SV40," Kennedy says in the video. "It’s one of the most carcinogenic materials that is known to man. In fact, it’s used now by scientists around the world to induce tumors in rats and guinea pigs in labs. But it was in that vaccine — 98 million people who got that vaccine, and my generation got it, and now you’ve had this explosion of soft tissue cancers in our generation that killed many, many, many, many more people than polio ever did."
"So if you say to me, 'The polio vaccine, was it effective against polio?' I’m going to say, Yes. And if you say to me, 'Did it kill more people … did it caused more death than averted?' I would say, 'I don’t know, because we don’t have the data on that,'" Kennedy also said, according to FactCheck.org. The organization also determined another statement of his was "incorrect or misleading on several fronts."
Dr. Angela Rasmussen is a virologist and research scientist at the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO). Her bio says she focuses "on highly pathogenic emerging viruses that cause the most severe disease, such as Ebola virus, influenza viruses, and SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19."
Responding to the video of RFK Jr. suggesting the polio vaccine "killed many, many more people" than polio, Dr. Rasmussen declared, "This is a lie. And it’s an abhorrent lie because the goal of this lie is to prevent polio vaccination and kill even more people."
Dr. Neil Stone, an infectious diseases doctor and clinician-scientist on Tuesday wrote that RFK Jr. claiming that the polio vaccine "killed many more people than polio ever did...is simply not true."
"Either he grossly misunderstands the topic," or, "he does understand it and is lying."
"Either way this is grotesque misinformation," Dr. Stone concluded.
Dr. Benjamin Mazer is an assistant professor of pathology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, a board-certified anatomic and clinical pathologist, and an editor at the peer reviewed journal BMJ Oncology.
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Last month at The Atlantic, he wrote that during the COVID pandemic, "Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was indeed spreading misinformation with a fire hose. (For example, he has falsely said that the COVID shots are the “deadliest vaccine ever made.”)
And on Monday, responding to a social media post from CNN's Manu Raju about RFK Jr. telling reporters, “I’m all for the polio vaccine,” Dr. Mazer wrote: "His strategy is to lie."
"Here’s what he actually said about the polio vaccine: their harms 'dwarf' the harms of polio itself. (Obviously not true.) Oh and RFK Jr also suggested that doctors and scientists drummed up the AIDS epidemic because polio wasn’t a problem anymore."
Dr. Dena Grayson is a physician and researcher with a lengthy medical résumé.
On Friday, not specifying any particular remarks, Dr. Grayson wrote: "In the face of #polio—a virus that can kill you or lead to a lifetime of paralysis—it’s INSANE that RFK Jr wants to ban a safe and effective vaccine."
Dr. Jerome Adams is a former Indiana state health commissioner who served as President Donald Trump's Surgeon General from September, 2017 to the end of Trump's term. He holds a Master of Public Health degree from the University of California, Berkeley, with a focus on chronic disease prevention.
On Tuesday Adams made statements responding to the RFK Jr. video, urging the Senate thoroughly vet Kennedy.
"No one is perfect, and as such, every political appointee has pros and cons that the Senate has to explore when considering confirmation. RFK is on the record - a lot. And the Senate will have to determine if someone who has said 'no vaccine is safe and effective,' and who doesn’t know 'if the polio vaccine killed more people than it has saved,' is qualified and suitable to be America’s secretary of Health," Dr. Adams remarked.
"I personally like a lot of RFKs talk of improving the safety and nutrition of our food supply. But again the Senate will have to ask themselves if a healthy and respected America can have someone who has said HIV doesn’t cause AIDS leading health policy," Dr. Adams added, pointing to this video:
Adams concluded, "America voted for Trump- and he has the right to nominate whoever he wants. The Senate has an obligation to vet these nominations before they consent. And as an American citizen and physician, I hope Senators at least ask RFK to explain- on the record- his many concerning past statements that seem inconsistent with making America healthy again. We all deserve that insight and clarity from the confirmation process."
Over the weekend, without mentioning anyone specifically, Dr. Adams remarked: "In Scotland they’re working on elimination of cervical cancer via vaccines- and they’ve almost achieved their goal. I worry that in America some are working on a reintroduction of polio- and they’ve almost achieved their goal."
Watch the videos above or at this link.
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