Vaccines, fluoride, raw milk: How RFK Jr.’s views can shape public health

The announcement that President-elect Donald Trump has nominated Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be the new head of the US Department of Health and Human Services has brought renewed attention to many of the comments the nominee has made about public health.

Kennedy was announced as Trump’s pick on November 14. If confirmed by the US Senate, he will lead a department that oversees a host of agencies that regulate important public health programs and conduct scientific research. The list includes the National Institutes of Health, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That means Kennedy could have a hand in drug and vaccine approvals, food safety and more, issues that affect almost everyone.

Many of Kennedy’s views on health issues run counter to decades of research and broad scientific and medical consensus, yet he has gained a public following. Here’s a look at the science behind some of the key issues Kennedy has raised in the past that could be affected under the new administration.

Fact: Vaccines save lives

Kennedy is a dominant force in the anti-vaccine movement (SN: 5/11/21). He told podcaster Lex Fridman in a July 2023 interview, “There is no vaccine that is, you know, safe and effective.”

It’s not true. In terms of effectiveness, the World Health Organization says that “vaccines have saved more human lives than any other medical invention in history” – praise that is supported by ample evidence.

In the United States, a host of infectious diseases, including polio, diphtheria, measles, and smallpox, caused hundreds of thousands of cases of illness in the 20th century. By the end of that century, cases had fallen by 95 to 100 percent, largely due to the widespread introduction of vaccines.

During the coronavirus pandemic, vaccination against COVID-19 prevented 14.4 million deaths globally in the first year it was available, from December 2020 to December 2021, researchers reported in Lancet Infectious Diseases in the year 2022.

And the research on the beneficial impact of vaccines keeps coming. Since 1974, vaccination against 14 pathogens has prevented 154 million deaths worldwide, most of them among children: Immunization prevented 146 million deaths in children younger than 5 years, researchers reported in Lancet in May.

In the United States, routine childhood immunizations for children born between 1994 and 2023 would have averted an estimated 508 million cases of illness, prevented 32 million hospitalizations and prevented 1.1 million children from dying, researchers reported in CDC. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report in August.

The spread of misinformation and misinformation about vaccine safety has a long history, but now it reaches many more people through social media (SN: 11/11/21). Kennedy’s own Instagram account was taken down from 2021 to 2023 for posting debunked claims about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines. Common misinformation about vaccine safety has been disproved by a large body of evidence. For example, vaccines do not reduce the body’s ability to mount an immune response.

Vaccines are tested in humans for safety and effectiveness before being licensed by the FDA. After approval, multiple national surveillance systems continue to monitor vaccine safety.

“Vaccines are the safest and most cost-effective way to protect children, families and communities from disease, disability and death,” Benjamin Hoffman, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said in a statement Nov. 15.

Fact: The measles vaccine does not cause autism

Anti-vaccine advocates, including Kennedy, continue to push the disingenuous notion that vaccines cause autism. A paper published in 1998 in Lancet is supposed to find a link between the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine and autism. The paper, based on falsified data, was later retracted, but the damage was done and the idea that vaccines in general could cause autism took off (SN: 5/11/21).

The science is settled: There is no evidence to suggest that vaccines — or any of the ingredients in them — cause autism spectrum disorders.

The causes of autism are not known, but are likely to be complex (SN: 16.10.18; SN: 7/29/11). Current thinking centers on changes in brain development early in life, perhaps even in the womb. Scientists are exploring genetic differences and differences in the way neurons grow as possible links, and are investigating ways to look for the disorder early in life (SN: 27.2.14; SN: 1/11/19; SN: 4/10/17).

Fact: Fluoride in water strengthens teeth

Earlier this month, Kennedy announced his intention to remove fluoride from drinking water.

A natural mineral, fluoride has a special superpower: it can rebuild teeth. When acid from bacteria eats away at tooth enamel, fluoride can break up the gap and attract other hard minerals like calcium and phosphate to attach. This process, called remineralization, keeps the damage at bay.

That’s why fluoride has been added to water supplies in the United States since the 1940s — a move described in 1999 by the CDC as one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century.

Kennedy and other fluoride skeptics argue that the mineral harms children’s developing brains. And in high doses, it can. There have been reports of fluoride toxicity from around the world. But as they say, the dose makes the poison. In the United States, the optimal dose of fluoride has been set at 0.7 milligrams per liter of water, well below levels that have been linked to harm.

Some communities that have removed fluoride from their municipal water supply have seen an increase in tooth decay. In Canada, children in Calgary, where fluoridation was banned in 2011, had more decay than neighboring children in Edmonton, where fluoride remained in the water. Similar trends of more tooth decay have emerged in Israel, which banned water fluoridation in 2014, and in Juneau, Alaska, where fluoridation was stopped in 2007.

Cavities can lead to pain, problems with speech and eating, social and psychological impairment. Untreated tooth decay, in children and adults, can cause death. Fluoridated water is supported by medical organizations including the World Health Organization, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and the American Dental Association.

Fact: Germs in raw milk can make people sick

In an Oct. 25 post on X, Kennedy accused the FDA of “aggressively suppressing” a laundry list of substances, one of which was raw milk.

Raw milk is not pasteurized, a process that treats food products with heat to kill harmful microbes (SN: 18.11.22). Proponents list a number of reasons to drink raw milk, including the claim that some bacteria in raw milk may be beneficial for gut health. But these bacteria come from cows or the farm environment, and only microbes that come from humans can be an asset to our health.

Pasteurization to kill the bad stuff is key to food safety, according to the FDA and CDC. People who drink raw milk can be exposed to food-borne bacteria such as E. coli, Salmonella AND Listeriaall of these can cause serious illness.

Additionally, genetic traces of avian influenza have appeared in milk amid an outbreak in US dairy cows (SN: 25.4.24). While pasteurization kills the virus, it can stick to raw milk and pose a risk of infection. Mice that consume milk spiked with the virus can become infected with bird flu, for example, suggesting that humans may also be at risk.

Fact: Hydroxychlorine and ivermectin do not treat COVID-19

Hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin, two drugs that gained notoriety during the COVID-19 pandemic, were also listed in Kennedy’s Oct. 25 post X. While early studies done on the cells in the vessels raised hopes that the treatments could help COVID patients, countless studies have since shown that hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug, and ivermectin, an antiparasitic, are ineffective against the coronavirus.SN: 8/2/20).

Despite the overwhelming evidence against the use of COVID drugs, some people, including Kennedy, continue to falsely claim that they could have saved lives during the pandemic. In a July 2023 interview with Fox News, Kennedy said that fewer people would have died if hydroxychlorine and ivermectin were available to treat COVID. The FDA had authorized hydroxychlorine for emergency use in the early days of the pandemic. But the agency withdrew that authorization because studies showed it was no better than a placebo at preventing or alleviating the disease (SN: 15.6.20).