How the 2024 Presidential Race Could Embolden the Anti-Vaccine Movement

When Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced his presidential campaign on April 19 in Boston, he highlighted his family’s political pedigree and his history of championing “numerous environmental causes,” saying he was running to “end the corrupt merger of state and corporate power.” Notably absent was any direct acknowledgement of the decades-long crusade that has made the 69-year-old the most famous face of the anti-vaccine movement in the country. It was a stark contrast to the speeches he was giving last year. In January 2022, Kennedy rallied thousands of people from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington at a massive demonstration opposing vaccine mandates in which he shared discredited conspiracies about COVID-19 and compared U.S. public health officials’ actions to Nazi Germany. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] As the pandemic fades from public view, the anti-vax movement finds itself in a state of flux. Kennedy’s decision to not even use the word “vaccine” in his announcement speech likely reflects his desire to gain traction in the Democratic primary among voters looking for an alternative to President Joe Biden. It’s a different story on the other side of the aisle, where some candidates appear to be actively courting a right-wing contingent made up of anti-vaxxers and vaccine skeptics, opponents of public health mandates, and conspiracy theorists that grew during the pandemic. The extent to wh...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized COVID-19 democrats Health Care Misinformation & Disinformation republicans Source Type: news