RFK Jr.’s anti vaxx documentary targets blacks

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Renowned anti-vaxxer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has come under fire for targeting the African-American community with a vaccine misinformation documentary.

Kennedy's Children's Health Defense recently released "Medical Racism" - a 57-minute free online documentary that warns the black community of something "very sinister" surrounding vaccinations.

The documentary also warns that the Eugenics movement of the early 1900s, which aimed to eradicate unfavorable genetic traits through selective breeding, is in danger of happening again

The film draws on interviews with prominent anti-vaccination advocates in addition to historical incidents of racism in the medical field, such as the hugely controversial Tuskegee Syphilis Study that took place from the 1930s to the 1970s.

The hour-long film also includes a lengthy discussion on the disproven link between vaccinations and autism, claiming that black communities are being disproportionately harmed.

The documentary uses Center for Disease Control and Prevention data to make a connection between vaccinating black children and the risk of autism. The CDC data closely resembles another study that was later retracted by the Scientific Journal on the grounds of "undeclared competing interests on the part of the author".

The author of the study in question was a paid contractor for Kennedy's Children's Health Defense as of 2020.

The film additionally features leading vaccination experts in an attempt to add credibility. However, their inclusions were simply for misleading and disingenuous purposes.

Naomi Rogers, for example, who teaches medical history at Yale, was included for just 14 seconds in the documentary, but her interview was twisted for anti-vaccination purposes.

Rogers said that she spoke passionately about racial issues in the medical industry and working against discrimination but that her remarks were embedded in a segment that she had "enormous problems with".

Rogers's interview was ultimately included in a segment claiming that the anti-vaccine movement was engaged in a civil rights campaign to stop experimentation on black communities.

Rogers told National Public Radio that she was asked to take part in the documentary under false pretenses and that the filmmakers assured her that her interview would be included in a standard documentary that addressed the main concerns of the COVID-19 pandemic. She said that she spent more than an hour talking to the filmmakers about her extensive research.

She said that she was enraged when she saw the final cut.

The film also features other interviews with respected medical experts, including former National Medical Association president Dr. Oliver Brooks.

Brooks said that he took part in the documentary to add balance but that he now regrets his decision.

He said that the film encouraged African-Americans to avoid getting a COVID-19 vaccine even though data suggests that they are twice as likely to die from the virus.

The film opens with several ominous clips about the pandemic and features interviews with a number of African-Americans who state that the pandemic is "propaganda" and that they don't trust the vaccine.

Kennedy Jr. appears in the documentary, warning viewers about the possible dangers of vaccines.

"Don't listen to me. Don't listen to Tony Fauci. Hey, and don't listen to your doctor," Kennedy says on the documentary.

He was also criticized by members of his own family, who penned an op-ed in Politico in 2019 challenging his views on vaccines.

Kennedy Jr., meanwhile, has maintained that he is not anti-vaccination and claims that he is simply in favor of safe vaccines.

Why is questioning the safety or efficacy of the Covid vaccine make one "Anti-Vax" or "Anti-Science"?

So its about Kennedys questionable credibility and not the vaccine. But Experts are not infallible. A doctor, who is a medical professional, may suggest that one get a second opinion for example, because he is not all knowlegeable. The government is always appealing to the authority of experts even when the experts are dead wrong. The same FDA that approves all of the drugs we take never gets held liable when drugs are recalled and the law suits begin. But I'm probably just indulging in white supremacist talk.