There is a feud going on in one of America's most famous families over the topic of vaccines. Prominent members of the Kennedy clan are publicly declaring that their relative Robert F. Kennedy is wrong that children should not be vaccinated in the face of overwhelming evidence that vaccines prevent diseases such as cervical cancer and measles.
Robert F. Kennedy has become something of a hero to the movement that opposes vaccines with that claim that they cause autism. His sister, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, the former lieutenant governor of Maryland, his brother Joseph P. Kennedy II, a former member of Congress from Massachusetts, and his niece Maeve Kennedy McKean, executive director of Georgetown University's Global Health Initiatives, wrote an article in Politico Magazine explaining why they don’t hold the same beliefs on vaccines as their famously outspoken uncle.
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Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, former lieutenant governor of Maryland and sister of Robert Kennedy Jr.
The article is careful to express the three family members’ love for their brother and uncle, as well as his commitment to some of the issues that the Kennedy crew does stand for. “We love Bobby. He is one of the great champions of the environment. His work to clean up the Hudson River and his tireless advocacy against multinational organizations who have polluted our waterways and endangered families has positively affected the lives of countless Americans. We stand behind him in his ongoing fight to protect our environment.”
But on the topic of vaccinations, the three authors are publicly taking a stand against him. “However, on vaccines he is wrong,” they write.
“And his and others' work against vaccines is having heartbreaking consequences,” they write.
When survivorNet asked a world renown cancer expert from Stanford University about the controversy around HPV vaccines, he said that it’s really more of a “pseudo-controversy” because the reasons for objecting to the vaccine are extremely unrealistic.
Dr. Jonathon Berek on the “pseudo-controversy” around the HPV vaccine
There are some sex-related explanations that people invoke to when they aren’t sure about vaccines, according to Dr. Berek. “Some people say they’re concerned about it because they’ve called it a sex vaccine, that somehow it’s going to encourage people to be sexually active,” says Dr. Jonathon Berek, Director of Stanford Women’s Cancer Center at Stanford Medicine.
But he explains that the science just doesn’t back it up. “First of all, that’s not true,” he says. “It’s an anti-cancer vaccine. And second of all, there are no data to support that.”
And the vaccines, if used early enough, can prevent diseases that a lot of women would get without them. “These viruses are very common, that once somebody becomes sexually active, they’re likely to get a papilloma virus infection,” he continues. “And the way to prevent the kind of cancers associated with that is to get a vaccination when you’re young, before you’re sexually active, before you have the virus.”
Joseph P. Kennedy II, former member of Congress from Massachusetts and Robert Kennedy Jr.’s brother
The Kennedys write that people who don’t get vaccinations or who promote refusing vaccinations present a really hard problem for people in public health, especially since most of them are beneficiaries of our culture of vaccination. “The challenge for public health officials right now is that many people are more afraid of the vaccines than the diseases, because they’ve been lucky enough to have never seen the diseases and their devastating impact. But that's not luck; it's the result of concerted vaccination efforts over many years.”
And that the Kennedy’s, other than Robert, want to support organizations doing the hard work to provide better vaccinations and better access to them. “As parents and concerned citizens, we stand behind the hard work of scientists and public health professionals at organizations like the WHO and the Department of Health and Human Services, whether in the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the Food and Drug Administration.”
The Kennedy’s know that there is a huge need for vaccines, especially since so many major scientific institutions have agreed. “The necessity and safety of vaccines are backed up by every major medical organization, including the American Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Public Health Association and scores of others,” reads the article.
The article concludes by explaining that anti-vaccination literature is detrimental to everyone, and by stating the importance of trying to spread access to vaccinations world wide. “Those who delay or refuse vaccinations, or encourage others to do so, put themselves and others, especially children, at risk. It is in all our interests to make sure that immunizations reach every child on the globe through safe, effective and affordable vaccines,” they write.
“Everyone must communicate the benefits and safety of vaccines, and advocate for the respect and confidence of the institutions which make them possible. To do otherwise risks even further erosion of one of public health's greatest achievements.”
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