U.S. News

Kennedy named microbiologist Robert Malone to the reconstituted advisory committee. Malone contributed to research that eventually would pave the way for the development of mRNA vaccines. He claims—falsely, experts say—to be the creator of the RNA technology at the heart of prominent COVID-19 vaccines. During the pandemic he became a leading voice against that technology, a star on right-wing media platforms who spread false claims alleging, for one example, that mRNA COVID vaccine maker Moderna had admitted that its vaccines can insert DNA into genomes and cause cancer. According to Factcheck.org, the claim led to social media posts saying the shots could cause “turbo cancer.”

Another appointee, Vicky Pebsworth, a registered nurse and PhD, is a board member of the anti-vaccine advocacy organization National Vaccine Information Center, described in the Washington Post as “the oldest anti-vaccine advocacy group” in the United States. The group has advocated for expanded exemptions from school vaccine requirements; has made anti-influenza vaccine advertisements; and, according to a 2019 Post report, was at the “forefront of a movement that has led some parents to forgo or delay immunizing their children against vaccine-preventable diseases.” Pebsworth’s bio on the center’s website claims that her son was injured by vaccines he received when he was 15 months old.

Kennedy also appointed Martin Kulldorf, an epidemiologist, who claims he was fired from a position at Harvard for his opposition to COVID measures like lockdowns and vaccination requirements. He is one of the authors of a controversial manifesto, published in the fall of 2020, which called for sequestering the elderly and immunocompromised from COVID, a strategy the authors called “focused protection,” while opening society for other demographic groups. Critics said this would allow the virus to spread widely without the protection that vaccines would be able to offer.