RFK Jr is NOT the Contrarian We Need

At Sensible Medicine, there is nothing we like better than spirited debate. It is even better when it happens without me having to respond to one of Dr. Prasad’s prompts. We welcome pieces arguing with anything we publish. We would much rather people submit robust responses to columns that appear here than attack us for publishing pieces they disagree with.

Dr. David Taylor submitted this essay disagreeing with one of Dr. Joseph Marine’s recent columns. Personally, I have been worried that in some people’s eagerness to move on from the status quo, they have been too willing to ignore worrisome signs about what comes next. I have also heard people grant appointees opinions that they hope they hold, without evidence that they actually do. I think Dr. Taylor echoes, and extends, my worries.

Adam Cifu

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I am concerned about the embrace of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) agenda, and the implicit embrace of Robert F. Kennedy Jr, suggested by Dr. Joseph Marine in his recent opinion piece in Sensible Medicine. While I may have some level of disagreement with how Dr. Marine frames and characterizes the medical and public health establishment and the COVID response being illustrative of widespread dysfunction across our medical establishment, I generally agree with his points. Corporate influence in medicine has significant negative effects. Reasonable persons could argue about the weight of the effects of pharmaceutical and insurance companies on the average American's health and the effects on the medical profession, but his assertions have validity. However, Dr. Marine ends his piece presenting a seemingly binary choice of standing with corporate interests or with patients and the public for major reform — the implication being that our only real choice is to stand with RFK Jr. Although Dr. Marine may not personally believe in everything RFK Jr does, the wording of his essay suggests that we should stand with him.

This rehabilitation of RFK Jr’s ideas and reputation concerns me. RFK Jr is not the focal point of the piece, nor are any of his public statements or actions discussed in depth. It is suggested that RFK Jr is a disruptor and then it is implied that he is a force for good in the MAHA agenda and in upending the corporate capture of health agencies.

One cannot argue that RFK Jr is a positive force in the medical world unless we choose to be ignorant of his past and current deeds and statements. One needs only to look at his deeds to realize how slippery his statements can be.

He has made multiple statements that he is not anti-vaccine. He asserts that if he were presented with evidence of a vaccine’s efficacy or relative safety he would change his mind. When pressed, such as he was on the Lex Fridman podcast, he declined to admit that any vaccine was safe and effective. When presented with evidence arguing against a connection between the MMR vaccine and autism he has refused to change his stance. The most recent example I found was a 2023 interview with FOX News where he stated, "I do believe that autism does come from vaccines.” Like many anti-vaccine advocates, he has a well documented history of promulgating false information that effectively preyed on the vulnerability that all parents (to varying degrees) have about the effects of substances injected or ingested by their children.

Recently the 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa has come back into the news. An outbreak of measles occurred there in 2019 and led to over 5600 cases of measles, 1867 hospitalizations and 83 deaths — mostly healthy infants and young children. Anti-vaccine activist rhetoric and actions led to a decrease in vaccinations starting in the 2010’s. In 2018 a medical error (mixing a muscle relaxant with the measles vaccine) led to two infants dying tragically. Anti-vaccine activists pounced on this event and blamed the deaths on the vaccine. The government halted the vaccine program. Shortly after this RFK Jr traveled to Samoa and met with anti-vaccine activists arguing that the vaccine was deadly. Vaccinations sharply decreased and what followed directly was the measles outbreak noted above.

It strains credulity to think that RFK Jr had no hand in the declination in measles vaccinations in Samoa and had no hand in the subsequent outbreak and deaths. I believe most Sensible Medicine readers who are medical providers, were they involved in anti-vaccine rhetoric in a population that subsequently had a deadly measles outbreak that devastated many families and a nation, would be contrite at the potential havoc they had a hand in. To date, there exists no evidence that RFK Jr accepts any culpability for his actions in Samoa or even shows recognition that Samoans experienced a tragic and deadly measles outbreak.

This history and his other statements and deeds show that RFK Jr. is not a person taking inventory of the problems and concerns in our current health system and then carefully and deliberately using science and empirical data to inform his policy and positions. Does he ask some questions that are reasonable to ask? Yes. Do some of his proposed initiatives have the potential to be helpful for the public and the medical establishment? Yes. It is anti-science to be prohibited from questioning medical orthodoxy. It is also anti-science for RFK Jr to reject answers to the questions he asks.

Do I believe standing by the patient and working towards serious and meaningful reform is the right path at this time? Absolutely! Are there individuals who could capably fill this role and advocate for much of the MAHA agenda yet still advocate for science-based decision making and not fall into the trap public health officials did during COVID? For sure. Many of the authors of articles here on Sensible Medicine would fit that bill. If Marty Makary is chosen to be FDA chief, he would be a perfect example of someone who is a serious medical intellectual using data to inform his position. What we need are serious medical thinkers who are using data to inform their positions. RFK Jr does the opposite. He asks a question and claims to be open to the research. The research is presented to him and he rejects it. He does not show any evidence that his opinions or positions are informed or updated by data.

I can predict the counter-arguments. The establishment is just as bad. We need someone to disrupt this establishment. In some instances Dr. Fauci and the CDC ignored the data and made policies that were effectively anti-science. Dr. Ashish Jha has done the same. The public health establishment attempted to silence, punish and/or cancel good faith scientists and medical providers who had contrarian opinions during COVID. The establishment showed evidence of being anti-science. It wasn’t right then or now.

There should be reform of the establishment. None of that excuses or validates RFK Jr’s actions – even if some of his concerns align with those who questioned the establishment during COVID.

I believe Dr. Marine has positive intent here. He wants to make positive change by embracing the good ideas present in the MAHA movement. But the knife usually cuts both ways. Embracing MAHA and RFK Jr as Secretary of Health and Human Services makes RFK Jr appear less the crackpot and more the serious contrarian. We do not have to embrace RFK Jr to work on promoting exercise and good nutrition, promoting healthy lifestyle choices, trying to prevent chronic illness instead of resorting to polypharmacy, and fighting for medical establishment and public health reform. We can do all that and roundly reject RFK Jr as the anti-science bad acting predator he is.

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Dr. David Taylor trained in family medicine and sports medicine. He is currently working in a rural ED in Minnesota.

Photo Credit: Swarnavo Chakrabarti