As RFK Jr. sows vaccine doubts, a Minnesota effort pushes back

Opinion editor’s note: Strib Voices publishes a mix of commentary online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who heads the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has fired vaccine experts, rolled back key immunization recommendations and axed $500 million in research for promising mRNA vaccine technology.

He’s vowed to put “gold standard” science at the heart of his agency’s influential decisions. But recent developments raise the question of whether its processes are actually fueled by the pyrite standard. That mineral, which also has a metallic gleam, is often known as “fool’s gold.”

Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” report, released by the White House earlier this year, relies on citations that are “rife with errors, from broken links to misstated conclusions. Seven of the cited sources don’t appear to exist at all,” according to a nonprofit organization’s analysis. Another review of the so-called science behind the mRNA research cancellation, released on Wednesday, had a similarly concerning sum-up: “RFK Jr.’s ‘evidence’ doesn’t support ending the research — it makes the case for expanding it.”

Thankfully, doctors and scientists are not standing idly by. University of Minnesota infectious disease expert Mike Osterholm is spearheading some of the most vigorous and valuable pushback. He’s part of a commendable volunteer team of experts who are working urgently to counter the vaccine doubts by providing credible, up-to-date and accessible data to help the public make informed health decisions.

Osterholm, who founded the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, will speak at the session. Other expected contributors include the New England Journal of Medicine’s editor-in-chief, Dr. Eric Rubin, and Dr. Marc Siegel, who is Fox News’ senior medical analyst and a clinical professor of medicine at New York University’s Langone Medical Center.