Conspirituality Podcast recently started releasing short episodes, called "Briefs," that focus on breaking or timely news—the latest is all about Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., "The Anti-Vax Candidate." They explain:
Another Kennedy is running for President. But discussion of his anti-vaccine activism often overlooks how it affects people with autism. Julian talks to Eric Michael Garcia, political correspondent for The Independent, and author of We're Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation, about the human cost.
The half-hour episode provides a great, quick overview of RFK, Jr.'s anti-vaccine activism, which began in 2005, long before he became a darling of the COVID-era anti-lockdown, anti-vaccine conspiracy movement. ABCNews explains that RFK, Jr. not only spreads mis- and disinformation about vaccines, he also has financial incentive to do so:
Kennedy, the son of former U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy, has become one of the most prominent faces of the anti-vaccine movement, according to experts. He is the founder of Children's Health Defense, a nonprofit organization known mainly for its anti-vaccine efforts. The group was kicked off Instagram and Facebook last year for spreading misleading claims about vaccines and other public health measures.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the organization's revenues doubled to $6.8 million, according to filings made with charity regulators.
The Conspirituality Podcast brief also dives into the social and medical history of autism and its diagnosis, as well as the lasting negative impacts on public health and on people with autism of Andrew Wakefield's fraudulent "research" on the (falsified) link between vaccines and autism, which was published in The Lancet in 1998.
You can listen for free here.
