Why RFK Jr is Dangerous

 

I have chosen to not go through the book line-by-line. I did much of that in my first fifteen posts. In the instances in which I did examine RFK Jr.'s claims at a microscopic level, it was easy to demonstrate that they were false. He doesn't even try hard to put together an honest argument. He either doesn't read the sources he cites, or else he willfully lies about his claims. His dishonesty isn't subtle. 

Why do I believe he is dangerous? This is an example, page 82 or 83 (according to the index or hand-numbering). RFK Jr. speaks of the experience with COVID in Vermont. He writes:

"Vermont is America's most vaccinated state. On October 10, 2021, with 86% of its citizens fully vaccinated (according to the COVID Dashboard), Vermont officials nevertheless reported the largest rate of infections ever--and revealed that more than three-quarters of Vermont's September COVID-19 deaths occurred in the "fully vaccinated."" 

Note: Beyond COVID Dashboard, RFK does not provide a citation for the above statistics. Vermont's largest rate of infections ever? Yes, they maintained a fairly low number of cases, approximately 5400 in September versus 3600 in August. As for 86% being fully vaccinated in the state, that is higher than the figures I can find, but Kennedy does like to make up numbers (January 2022 numbers are presented below). Perhaps 86% had a single dose by then. 

Now, I followed the COVID numbers state-by-state on a rather exquisite basis. And when I saw RFK picking on Vermont's numbers, I thought, "What the hell?" Among states (and DC) in the United States, Vermont performed quite nearly the best. 

I have cited worldometer's data site here a number of times. (RFK sometimes cites it.) It is not the definitive source, but it is easy to navigate and is in agreement with the official sites. With one click, a user can rank the COVID statistics for each state. In terms of mortality, Vermont outperformed 48 of 50 states and the District of Columbia. 

Let's compare Vermont to the United States as a whole. 

Vermont's death rate is less than half of the U.S. If the United States had Vermont's death rate, it would have had over 600,000 fewer deaths. If there is a future pandemic, following RFK Jr.'s advice would double the deaths over following Vermont's wisdom.

RFK states that three-quarters of Vermont's September 2021 deaths from COVID took place among the fully vaccinated. While other states were witnessing appalling numbers of deaths from COVID, Vermont had 37 total between August 31 and October 2, 2021. He claims 86% of the state was vaccinated, so three-quarters of the deaths among the vaccinated indicates a protective effect. Another way to put that is that one-quarter of the deaths took place among the 14% not fully vaccinated. (It is more complicated than that. The age demographics and vaccination rates even more strongly favor vaccination.) 

I teach vaccines to medical students in Puerto Rico. I have presented them with the slide shown below. It cites numbers from January 2022. At that time Puerto Rico had the highest rate of being fully vaccinated for COVID (this is after combining the age groups) compared to individual states. 

Vermont is included on the above list as among the most vaccinated. Here is the ranking for mortalities among states, including Puerto Rico, also from my presentation. The rankings go up to 52: the 50 states, DC and Puerto Rico.

Vaccines save lives. 

To be continued.

Martin Hill Ortiz is a professor of pharmacology and author of several novels. 

My new novel, The Missing Floor, is now available from Oliver-Heber books. The first in the series, Floor 24, is newly available in audio book format. The audiobook has quite a complimentary review here.

The Missing Floor