In early 2025, the anti-vax movement was as numerous as it had ever been. The covid epidemic had radicalised a new generation of people who didn’t understand science but thought they did. One of these people, sadly, was Robert Francis Kennedy. This was particularly sad because he had been appointed Secretary of Health and Human Services by President Trump, and assumed office on February 13.
At that time, the Center for Disease Control was running advertisements trying to encourage people to get vaccinated against influenza, as the inevitable seasonal outbreak of which was particularly severe that year. One of RFK’s first major actions as Secretary was to direct the CDC to stop running these ads. Predictably to everyone but RFK, the outbreak worsened after this.
