Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the former head of the anti‑vaccine group Children’s Health Defense (CHD), will deliver the keynote address at a sold‑out conference in Washington, DC, later this week. The event, organised by CHD, was announced on Monday after the organisation confirmed Kennedy’s participation.
Kennedy will share the stage with other prominent anti‑vaccination figures, most notably Andrew Wakefield. Wakefield, a former doctor whose 1998 study falsely linked the measles‑mumps‑rubella (MMR) vaccine to autism, was stripped of his medical licence after a medical board found his research to be fraudulent and his conduct to amount to serious professional misconduct.
Despite being ostracised from the medical community, Wakefield remains a central figure in anti‑vaccine circles. His claim that vaccines cause autism has persisted, largely due to continued promotion by CHD and Kennedy, who have embraced and widely disseminated the erroneous link.
The conference will bring together a range of anti‑vaccination voices, underscoring the ongoing influence of defunct scientific claims within certain public health debates. The event’s sold‑out status reflects the sustained interest in these controversial viewpoints.
<small>Source: Ars Technica — read the original story there.</small>
