Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said a portion of an interview with him saying that “no vaccine that is safe and effective” was “misused” on Friday.
“I made this statement about Lex Friedman[’s] podcast,” Kennedy said on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher” on Friday.
“Yes,” host Maher responded.
“And it was a response to a question that Lex asked me, ‘Are there vaccines’ — and if you go back and look at that, because that statement was misused, I would never say that,” Kennedy continued. “What I said was he asked me, ‘Are there safe and effective vaccines?’ And I said, ‘It appears that some of the live virus vaccines appear to be safe and effective.’”
“And then I said, ‘There are no vaccines that are safe and effective,’ and I was going to continue the sentence: ‘If you ask for the product to be measured against other medical products with double-blind, placebo-controlled studies.’ Lex interrupted me.
In an episode of Friedman’s podcast in In July 2023, Kennedy said that “some of the live virus vaccines are probably preventing more problems than they are causing,” when asked if he could “name any vaccine that” he considers “good.”
“There is no vaccine that is safe and effective,” Kennedy continued, before Fridman began speaking again.
Kennedy has faced criticism in the past for his anti-vaccine activism, including from members of his own family. His niece, Maeve Kennedy McKean, and siblings, former Maryland Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend (D) and former Rep. Joseph P. Kennedy II (D-Mass.), said in a Politico column that their Anti-vaccination work is “wrong” and “dangerous” in 2019 Politico column.
“The challenge for public health officials right now is that many people are more afraid of vaccines than they are of disease, because they are lucky enough to have never seen disease and its devastating impact,” the three wrote.
“But that’s not luck; it is the result of concerted vaccination efforts over many years. We don’t need measles outbreaks to remind us of the value of vaccination.”
Kennedy told Maher during the Friday night appearance that he is not “anti-vaccine” but that the label is a “way to silence him.”
“I’m 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.
“I am against mandatory vaccinations,” added Kennedy.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
