RFK Jr: How anti-vaccine misinformation has shaped his 'truth-teller' candidacy - BBC News

Mr Kennedy, who is running for US president, is seen by supporters as a truth-teller, but often spreads falsehoods.

1 day agoShareclose panelShare pageCopy linkAbout sharingRelated TopicsUS election 2024Image source, BBC / Getty ImagesBy Rachel SchraerHealth and disinformation reporterAmerica faces an election rematch in November that few voters are motivated by. As a result, independent candidates could have a bigger impact on this year's result than they have in decades, and none is making bigger waves than Robert F Kennedy Jr.

His supporters see him as a courageous truth-teller, battling nefarious corporate powers. Yet the vaccine sceptic has a history of straying from the truth and spreading health information scientists say is false. Rachel Schraer investigates these two very different images.

About 20 years ago, Professor Paul Offit received a phone call.

"Robert F Kennedy Junior called me and he said that he needed my help," says the scientist, whose vaccine against rotavirus is estimated to save some two thousand lives a day in the developing world.

Mr Kennedy, a member of the famous political dynasty and nephew of former president John F Kennedy, told Prof Offit he was looking for information. He wanted to reassure parents who were worried about the effects of a mercury-based preservative called thimerosal, found in some vaccines.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-68447223

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