CHD gathering draws Wakefield, GOP senators and Massie
As the death toll from the worst measles outbreak in decades rises, Robert F Kennedy Jr headlined the Washington DC conference of the anti-vaccine organization Children’s Health Defense, which he led for nearly two decades. “Let me be clear. You have a strong and steadfast friend at the White House,” Kennedy, now serving as secretary of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), told anti-vaccine activists at the conference in a nearly hour-and-a-half-long speech. He urged patience, saying that he would have made sweeping changes “on day one” but that he had to follow the law in order to make permanent change.
“But as I said, you have friends in the White House, and we are doing this one day at a time,” Kennedy said.
The conference took place against the backdrop of the worst US measles outbreak in decades. Four people have died of measles in Pennsylvania in recent weeks, and three died in Texas and Arizona last year. Kennedy addressed the outbreak only once. “In our country we care about rare illnesses and deaths. We care about every child who dies from measles. They get headlines,” he said. Kennedy asked the audience to also care about “children who are dying or suffering or being injured by vaccine injuries.”
Kennedy described “vaccine-injured children” as “damaged” because of diagnoses including allergies, asthma, ADHD and autism. He claimed that diabetes, sudden infant death syndrome and anorexia can be side effects of routine vaccines and said the system to track such effects is “broken.” Decades of research have found no connection between the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine and autism.
Recent polling suggests that one quarter of Americans now have doubts about the MMR vaccine following a years-long campaign against immunizations by once-fringe actors. A majority of Americans also disapprove of the Trump administration’s handling of the widening measles outbreak.
“I spent 40 years in these battles,” Kennedy said. “I intend to stay in this fight as long as I am able.” He thanked his friends who are still at CHD.
The conference drew other prominent figures in the anti-vaccine movement. Andrew Wakefield, a former gastroenterologist whose medical license was revoked after he was found to have fabricated research indicating a link between vaccines and autism, spoke before and immediately after Kennedy. “I could not have imagined two years ago that Bobby [Kennedy] would be in the White House and that President Trump would be saying ‘divide up the MMR into three different,’” said Wakefield, who proposed the same strategy years earlier when he attempted to patent his own single measles shot to compete with the MMR. He stopped to laugh. “What drug was I on that morning?”
Mark Gorton, president of the Maha Institute, referred to himself as “the boldest anti-vaxxer in the anti-vax conference,” adding that “only anti-vaxxers can speak clearly enough to raise awareness.”
Republican members of Congress also attended. Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin called the gathering “the largest anti-vaccine conference, probably in the world” and a “red badge of courage.” Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, a physician, joined Johnson in revisiting grievances over the Covid pandemic response and the immunizations deployed against it. Rep. Thomas Massie said he had called Donald Trump soon after the election to ask about the agriculture secretary position. Trump asked, “Are you friends with Bobby? Is he too much for HHS? Don’t you think we need some vaccines?” Massie recounted. Kennedy was nominated to lead HHS the next day, Massie said.
Massie offered the audience tactical advice: rather than try to remove “clowns” who disagree with the movement, “get the clowns who are here to do what you want. Get them to get in the clown car you want. And use pressure. Treat them like cattle.”
Mary Holland, the CEO of Children’s Health Defense, told the audience that the group now has “an opportunity today to speak to our colleagues and our friends in mainstream media.” Michael Kane, the organization’s director of advocacy, said anti-vaccine activists had grown nervous earlier this year after the White House reportedly discouraged public discussion before the midterm elections. “February, March, April, May, vaccine reform got a little quiet, a little scary. You know, behind the scenes, we’re like, ‘Yeah, what happened?’” Kane said. But recent months have shifted vaccines back into the spotlight. “Just a few years ago, we were the, you know, hated stepchild in the corner,” Kane said. “Now we are a national movement that isn’t going anywhere.”
Children’s Health Defense laid out a policy platform at the conference that includes plans to challenge state-level immunization requirements for school attendance, recruit younger members, and oppose the installation of cell phone towers over fears of 5G and 6G signals. Several speakers explicitly linked vaccination to autism, despite decades of research showing no such connection. Kennedy also touched on food systems, electromagnetic fields, and what he called “chem trails.”
Kennedy praised researchers at the University of Southern Denmark — who are now under investigation by their institution — calling them “the deities of vaccine research.” Kennedy had attempted to fund their project in Guinea-Bissau looking at mortality after hepatitis B vaccination before local authorities cancelled the project. Other researchers have called their prior work on vaccines “a house of cards.”
Tony Lyons, the publisher of Kennedy’s books who now heads Maha Action, called coverage of the measles outbreak a “psy op” meant to shape attitudes toward Kennedy. “The truth is, he really is dangerous,” Lyons said, invoking a phrase commonly used by scientists and critics. “I think Bobby Kennedy is the most dangerous individual to this system who’s come along in a generation,” he said, drawing applause.