RFK says he supports childhood vaccine schedule but has spent years criticizing it
RFK Jr.'s claim that he "support[s] the childhood schedule" of vaccinations contradicts the stream of criticism he has leveled in recent years at the vaccine schedule typically given to American children.
Kennedy has falsely linked the vaccine schedule to a rise in chronic disease, saying at a town hall last year, "What I'm focused on is the bigger issue of chronic disease, and that is linked to the vaccine schedule in some cases, the explosion of chronic disease."
Childhood vaccines have steadily increased in recent decades as new shots have become approved following clinical trials on their safety and efficacy, increasing the number of diseases that are now vaccine preventable. Clinicians say the number of vaccines given to a baby does not risk overwhelming their immune system.
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According to the CDC, even if babies receive several vaccinations in one day, their immune systems are under significantly more pressure from the bacteria and viruses they encounter daily in their environment.
Kennedy has been heavily critical of the number of vaccines children receive and has said there are "ridiculous diseases" that are in the childhood vaccine schedule, singling out the Hepatitis B vaccine.
"The baby doesn't need this," he told podcaster Joe Rogan last year.
-ABC News' Will McDuffie, Sony Salzman and Youri Benadjaoud