Anthony Fauci slams Robert F Kennedy Jr for his anti-vaccine views, says what he claims makes 'no sense'
WASHINGTON, DC: Dr Anthony Fauci, former White House Covid-19 response lead, has openly criticized Robert F Kennedy Jr for his anti-vaccine views.
In a podcast interview with CNN's David Axelrod on Monday, July 1, the physician-scientist recalled a prior meeting with Kennedy during the early Trump administration where the independent presidential candidate vehemently opposed vaccines, according to The Hill.
Robert F Kennedy Jr's disproven theories
Kennedy Jr, known for his anti-vaccine activism, has long promoted the disproven theory that vaccines are linked to autism and also cause various diseases.
“The first slide I remember he showed is that ‘It has been shown that vaccinations are responsible for the following diseases,’ and he gave every disease in the world,” said Fauci who was named the head of a White House commission to investigate vaccine safety.
“For the next 40 minutes or so, he showed slide after slide after slide that day that make no sense at all," he added.
Anthony Fauci's attempt to reason with Robert F Kennedy Jr
Fauci described an attempt to reason with Kennedy Jr following the meeting at the National Institutes of Health.
“We were walking out of the room at the [National Institutes of Health], I went over to and I said, ‘Bobby, I believe you care about children, and you care that you don’t want to hurt them,” said the immunologist.
“‘But you got to realize that from a scientific standpoint, what you’re saying does make no sense,’” he added.
In 2021, Kennedy Jr wrote a book about Fauci which was titled 'The Real Anthony Fauci.'
The book aimed to harshly criticize Fauci's leadership of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and his role as the country’s early Covid-19 response lead.
Fauci stated that Kennedy Jr's book accuses him of being “responsible for killing so many people with vaccines.”
“I don’t know what’s going on in his head, but it’s not good,” he said of Kennedy Jr.
Robert F Kennedy Jr's presidential campaign
Kennedy Jr has launched an outsider presidential campaign, criticizing both former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden for their handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and promotion of the Covid-19 vaccine.
The 70-year-old environmental lawyer has garnered a unique coalition of disillusioned voters from both major parties, potentially impacting the upcoming November election.
As per The Hill/Decision Desk HQ average of polls, Kennedy Jr has a national support of 8.1 percent. With Kennedy in the presidential race, Trump leads Biden by an average of 2.1 percentage points.
