Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Friday that excerpts from an interview in which he said “there is no safe and effective vaccine” had been “misappropriated.”
“I made that statement about Rex Fridman.”[’s] podcast,” Kennedy said Friday on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher.”
“Yes,” the moderator, Mr. Maher, answered.
“And that was in response to the question Rex asked me, ‘Is there a vaccine?’ When I go back and look at this, I would never say that because that statement has been abused.” Kennedy continued. “What I said was he asked, ‘Are there safe and effective vaccines?'” And I said, “Some live virus vaccines are safe and effective. It seems that.”
“And I said, ‘There is no safe and effective vaccine,’ and I was going to go on to say, ‘We’ve compared that product to other medical products in double-blind, placebo-controlled trials. I asked for a measurement.” Rex interrupted me.”
In an episode of Fridman’s podcast from In July 2023, when asked if he could name a vaccine that he “thinks is good,” President Kennedy said, “Some live virus vaccines probably avoid more problems than they cause. Probably.”
“There is no safe and effective vaccine,” Kennedy continued, before Fridman resumed speaking.
Kennedy has faced criticism from his family for his anti-vaccination activities. His niece Maeve Kennedy McKean and siblings former Maryland Lieutenant Governor Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (D) and former Congressman Joseph P. Kennedy II (D-Massachusetts) wrote a column for Politico. and called his anti-vaccination activities “wrong.” In a 2019 Politico column, he called it “dangerous.”
“The challenge that public health officials currently face is that many people are more afraid of the vaccine than they are of the disease, because they have been lucky enough to have never seen the disease or its devastating effects.” wrote the three.
“But it’s not a stroke of luck. It’s the result of years of collective vaccination efforts. We don’t need a measles epidemic to remind us of the value of vaccination.”
In an appearance Friday night, Mr Kennedy told Mr Marr that he was not “anti-vaccine” but that the label was a “way to silence” him.
“It’s called that because it’s a way to silence me, but I’ve said for 17 years that I’m not anti-vaccine. I just want good science. People should be able to make informed choices. ,” Kennedy said.
Kennedy added: “I’m opposed to vaccine mandates.”
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