Paul Offit, a pediatrician who specializes in treating infectious diseases, has written an editorial in the New York Times hammering Trump Department of Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Offit begins his piece by objecting to media descriptions of Kennedy as a "vaccine skeptic," given that he isn't just casting skepticism of unproven vaccines but is making false claims about vaccines that have proven safe and effective for decades now.
"He claims that the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine causes autism despite more than a dozen studies performed in seven countries on three continents involving thousands of children showing that it doesn’t," Offit wrote.
"When asked about the polio vaccine, Mr. Kennedy claimed that it caused an “explosion in soft tissue cancers” that killed, 'many, many, many, many, many more people than polio ever did.' Setting aside the fact that an 'explosion in soft tissue cancers' hasn’t occurred, studies comparing children who received early batches of polio vaccines with unvaccinated children found no differences in cancer incidence."
Later in the editorial, Offit examines Kennedy's past writings to uncover the origins of his anti-vaccination fervor.
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"Mr. Kennedy seems to favor the idea that fortifying the immune system through nutrition and reduced exposure to environmental toxins may be enough to prevent infections," he writes. "It is, perhaps, this belief that explains his penchant for drinking unpasteurized milk and his view that vaccines are not beneficial."
Offit then adds that Kennedy uses this belief to come to what he describes as a "particular disturbing" conclusion that getting infected with HIV does not result in coming down with AIDS.
"In his book, Mr. Kennedy cites AIDS denialists who believe that AIDS wasn’t widely spread, was not transmitted from person to person, and was most likely caused by recreational drugs like poppers and the antiviral drug AZT," he writes. "He calls the use of AZT 'mass murder.'"
All of this leads Offit to conclude that "it’s a dangerous time to be a child in the United States" should Kennedy win confirmation.