During the second confirmation hearing for Robert F. Kennedy Jr., he was questioned about his rhetoric surrounding vaccines and race. Newly elected Maryland Sen. Angela Alsobrooks requested that Kennedy clear up his previous comments on it — which were downright scary.
Alsobrooks was elected in November as one of only two Black women in the Senate. She asked President Donald Trump’s Health Secretary nominee to explain his past claim that Black people should not be given “the same vaccine schedule that’s given to Whites because their immune system is better than ours,” per MSNBC.
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Kennedy claimed that a “series of studies” in Poland showed that Black folks have “a much stronger reaction” to “particular antigens.”
Alsobrooks challenged this notion by responding: “Let me just ask you then...What different vaccine schedule would you say I should have received?”
Kennedy insisted that the Poland study implied that Black people require fewer antigens in their system. This reasoning may influence some from getting important vaccines. Alsobrooks called him out over this fallacy.
“Mr. Kennedy, with all due respect, that is so dangerous,” she stated. “Your voice would be a voice that parents listen to, that is so dangerous. I will be voting against your nomination because your views are dangerous to our state and to our country.”
According to NPR, Kennedy apparently cited work by the Mayo Clinic team pertaining to differences in vaccination immune response by race. The data showed a higher antibody response among Black people after the MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) vaccination in comparison to White people.
However, the study’s author stated that Kennedy’s suggestion of different vaccination schedules for Black people would be “twisting the data far beyond what they actually demonstrate.”
Kennedy’s confirmation hearings came after his cousin Caroline Kennedy sent a damning letter to senators which she called him a “predator” and “unqualified” to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
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