ABC News edited a portion of a Thursday interview with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over his vaccine claims.
Kennedy repeated his beliefs in opposition of the COVID-19 vaccine to the interviewer, Linsey Davis, who later told viewers that the 2024 Democratic presidential candidate spread “false claims” about the shot. The network aired a part of the interview where Davis pressed Kennedy on his own family’s disagreements with his views on vaccines.
“We should note that during our conversation, Kennedy made false claims about the COVID-19 vaccines,” Davis said after the interview. “Data shows that the Covid-19 vaccine has prevented millions of hospitalizations and deaths from the disease. He also made misleading claims about the relationship between vaccination and autism. Research shows that vaccines and the ingredients used in the vaccines do not cause autism, including multiple studies involving more than a million children and major medical associations like the American Academy of Pediatrics and the advocacy group Autism Speaks.”
The interview aired Davis confronting Kennedy over his claims that there is a correlation between vaccinations and autism.
“Wait a minute, who debunked it?” Kennedy replied in the non-censored portion.
“We have not seen any kind of scientific connections from the CDC, the World Health Organization…” she said.
“They’re capitative agencies,” he said. (RELATED: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Files Paperwork For 2024 Presidential Run)
Kennedy, who is one of eleven children, said he cannot expect everyone in his large family to agree with his views or vote for him. Two of his siblings, Kathleen and Joseph II, and his niece Maeve Kennedy McKean wrote a May 19, 2019, piece published in Politico Magazine calling his position on vaccines “tragically wrong” and “dangerous.”
His sisters, Kerry and Rory, admired his positions on the environment but said they would not vote for him due to his position on vaccines.
Kennedy founded the Children’s Health Defense, a anti-vaccine charity that links vaccines to autism. He released a book, “The Real Anthony Fauci,” that accused the White House senior medical advisor of participating in “a historic coup d’etat against Western democracy.”
Instagram banned Kennedy over his position on the COVID vaccine in 2021.
Polls found that Kennedy is in the double digits among voters. An Emerson College poll conducted between April 24 and 25 found that Kennedy has garnered 21% of support among potential primary voters, while President Joe Biden currently has 70%. The poll surveyed 1,000 registered voters with a 2.9% margin of error.