Kennedy Jr. will deliver a keynote address at an anti-vaccine conference being held in Washington, DC, later this week and hosted by the anti-vaccine organization he once led, Children’s Health Defense (CHD). The organization announced Monday that Kennedy had signed on to the event. Kennedy will appear alongside other high-profile figures in the anti-vaccine world, including Andrew Wakefield, the disgraced former doctor who was stripped of his medical license over a fraudulent, now-retracted study that falsely claimed a link between autism and the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine.
An investigation by a medical board found that Wakefield had mistreated vulnerable children and that his actions amounted to serious professional misconduct. Despite being ostracized from the medical community, Wakefield has become an enduring figure in the anti-vaccine community. His dangerous falsehood that vaccines cause autism has also endured—with significant help from CHD and Kennedy, who have embraced and widely promoted the erroneous link.
The online registration site for the CHD’s conference hails Wakefield as a “tireless advocate for parental choice.” For Kennedy, CHD’s cofounder and former leader, the site describes him as “a uniquely powerful and celebrated champion for those whose voices have long gone unheard.”
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