STORY: :: November 18, 2024
:: Canberra, Australia
:: RFK Jr’s views on vaccines are ‘dangerous’
says U.S. ambassador Caroline Kennedy
:: Caroline Kennedy, U.S. ambassador to Australia
“Yes, I think Bobby Kennedy’s views on vaccines are dangerous, but I don’t think that most Americans share them. So, we’ll just have to wait and see what, but certainly he’s, you know, I grew up with him, so I’ve known all this for a long time and others are just getting to know him. But my uncle Teddy spent 50 years fighting for affordable health care in the Senate and it’s something that our whole family is so proud of.
“So, I would say that our family is united in terms of our support for the public health sector and infrastructure, and has the greatest admiration for the medical profession in our country and Bobby Kennedy has got a different set of views.”
Kennedy said her cousin, who has spread vaccine misinformation, has views at odds with most Americans, including the Kennedy clan.
RFK Jr., the son and nephew of two titans of Democratic politics, has frequently talked about tackling what he calls the “chronic disease epidemic” of conditions including obesity, diabetes and autism, and reducing chemicals in food.
But critics point to RFK Jr.’s history of making false medical claims, including that vaccines are linked to autism.
The Kennedy name is powerful currency in Democratic politics and RFK Jr.’s cousin Kennedy had served as ambassador to Japan before taking up her current post in Australia in 2022.
In one of her last speeches as the outgoing ambassador before President-elect Trump’s pick succeeds her, Kennedy told the audience at the National Press Club in Canberra that Australia and the Indo-Pacific would remain important regardless of who was President.
