from the true-colors dept

One of many extra irritating components of the RFK Jr. expertise is nailing down his views. A part of that’s as a result of he tends to maintain fairly obscure about these views, particularly in the case of vaccines, relying on who he’s speaking to. When he’s working an anti-vaxxer group, his views are particular and clear. Sitting in entrance of Congress in a affirmation listening to to run HHS, nonetheless, causes him to talk in generalities and non-committal solutions. The opposite downside right here is that RFK Jr. additionally simply appears to lie quite a bit.

For instance, method again in November of final 12 months, after his HHS nomination, Kennedy did an interview with NPR. He was, in fact, requested about his lengthy anti-vaxxer historical past and what he deliberate for vaccines if confirmed to run HHS. Right here was his response.

Kennedy mentioned in his NPR interview that vaccines had been “not going to be taken away from anyone”.

He says he desires to enhance the science on vaccine security which he believes has “big deficits” and that he desires good info so individuals “could make knowledgeable decisions“.

And in earlier hearings earlier than Congress, Kennedy has specifically claimed he is not anti-vaccine.

So are we clear? Kennedy says he’s not anti-vaccine, has by no means been anti-vaccine, and isn’t going to take vaccines away from anybody.

Quick ahead by means of thousands of words about Kennedy that point out the alternative to the current, the place Kennedy is as soon as once more doing his anti-vaccine routine and is pulling the funding and contracts for mRNA vaccines for respiratory ailments. You already know, like COVID, or influenza.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the well being secretary and a longtime vaccine critic, introduced in an announcement Tuesday that $500 million value of vaccine improvement tasks, all utilizing mRNA expertise, shall be halted.

The tasks — 22 of them — are being led by a number of the nation’s main pharmaceutical corporations like Pfizer and Moderna to forestall flu, COVID-19 and H5N1 infections.

Now, it ought to be emphasised that it’s solely mRNA vaccines which are being defunded… for now. There are literally 4 completely different sorts of vaccines on the market, with mRNA being however one. And there is some reasonable opinion on the market that mRNA expertise could have been over-hyped through the pandemic, although for apparent causes, because it represented the sunshine on the finish of a death-tunnel. Although there’s additionally loads of proof that mRNA has the potential for some pretty big health breakthroughs. That’s the way you get the identical vaccine researcher, Adam Finn on the College of Bristol within the UK, to say each of these items.

Every has benefits and drawbacks, however Prof Finn argues we “overhyped” mRNA vaccines through the pandemic to the exclusion of different approaches, and now there’s a strategy of adjusting.

“However to swing the pendulum thus far that mRNA is ineffective and has no worth and shouldn’t be developed or understood higher is equally silly, it did do exceptional issues,” he says.

If you need a bit little bit of the gory drugs right here, I’ll attempt to make it fast and easy. The benefit of mRNA expertise is the velocity with which you’ll produce iterative pictures for variants of viruses. Different varieties of vaccines, corresponding to inactivated or attenuated vaccines, are typically more practical and stopping sickness and holding individuals from turning into contagious as a result of they offer the physique’s immune system extra, oh, let’s name it “virus meat” than the mRNA vaccine, which solely offers directions for the physique to construct particular proteins. So when you’ve got a virus that is still pretty static, corresponding to measles, an attenuated vaccine works nice, as a result of it gives extra and longer safety and also you don’t have to fret in regards to the virus altering to evade your vaccine.

But when we’re speaking about COVID, which branches into variants quickly, you lose a number of the effectiveness of an attenuated vaccine and make your self far much less nimble to fight these variants. There may be utility in mRNA expertise, in different phrases, as there’s within the different flavors of immunization. Nuance is what is required right here, with granular choice making on utilizing completely different vaccine expertise relying on the sickness.

From Kennedy, nonetheless, we get solely this.

Kennedy mentioned within the Tuesday assertion that he desires the well being division to maneuver away from mRNA vaccines, calling on the division to begin “investing in higher options.” He offered no particulars on what these applied sciences is likely to be.

He’s a confirmed liar, so I doubt that there shall be a lot funding in options that contain different varieties of vaccines. He’s already railed towards these different vaccination applied sciences, too, in spite of everything.

But when America actually desires to put money into options that can transfer healthcare within the nation ahead, I wish to counsel we begin with investing in some cardboard packing containers. That method Kennedy can have one thing with which to wash out his workplace so we are able to ship him on his method.

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