Are posts about Robert F. Kennedy Jr. proving to the US Supreme Court that COVID-19 vaccines are not vaccines true?

At the beginning of September 2024, news spread across social networks that a former US presidential candidate had won a case to recognize COVID-19 vaccines as useless and even harmful. We figured out how reliable such publications are.

The text that went viral on social networks begins like this (the author's spelling and punctuation are preserved): “Decision of the US Supreme Court: Covid vaccines are NOT vaccines. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defeated all pharmaceutical lobbyists. Covid-19 vaccines are NOT vaccines. In its decision, the Supreme Court confirms that the harm caused by Covid mRNA gene therapy is IRREVERSIBLE. Because the Supreme Court is the highest court in the United States, no further appeal will be filed and all avenues of appeal have been exhausted." The text goes on to talk about the importance of the precedent and Kennedy's merits in the fight against vaccination. The viral text was published Telegram channels, users Facebook And "VKontakte».

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is an American lawyer and one of the the most famous anti-vaccination activists. In particular, he assertsthat vaccines lead to the development of autism (this is not true), and earlier compared mass vaccination with the Holocaust and distributed various conspiracy theories. In 2023 Kennedy Jr. put forward his candidacy in the US presidential elections, planned to run as an independent candidate (according to some polls, up to 10% of Americans were ready to vote for him), but in August 2024 dropped out of the race, urging supporters to vote for Republican candidate Donald Trump.

Viral text with minor changes spreads on the Internet in different languages ​​for more than two years. Since the end of 2022, many such publications (including recent ones) have indicated the story of an American TV channel as a source Fox News dated October 25, 2022. It talks about the decision of the New York State Supreme Court, which reinstated local government employees who were previously fired for refusing to get vaccinated against the coronavirus. IN sentence It is not said that COVID-19 vaccines are useless or that Kennedy Jr. had any formal standing in the proceedings.

Essentially similar texts about Kennedy Jr. circulated on the Internet earlier (at least from 2021). They also repeated the thesis “The coronavirus vaccine is not a vaccine” and talked about the irreversible risk that “mRNA gene therapy” poses to the body. The authors of such publications referred to the lawsuit allegedly filed in the US Supreme Court by “Bill Gates, the US chief infectious disease specialist Fauci and Big Pharma.” It is alleged that they lost the argument to a group of scientists led by Senator Kennedy (in fact, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., unlike his father, was never a senator). In a comment to the Associated Press, the activist named the content of the viral text is false, and the quote used in it is fabricated.

All verdicts of the US Supreme Court available on his website. “Verified” did not find any rulings recognizing that COVID-19 vaccines cause irreversible harm, as well as cases in which Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took part. Activist in 2021 spokethat although he has been involved in more than 30 lawsuits involving vaccine safety, none of these cases have reached the US Supreme Court.

During the active phase of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kennedy Jr. became widely known among Covid dissidents and anti-vaxxers both in the United States and around the world. By calculations American non-governmental organization "Center to Fight Online Hate", as of spring 2021, he was one of the 12 people responsible for disseminating 65% of all anti-vaccination content on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Late that year the Associated Press found outthat since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the activist-founded organization Children's Health Defense has doubled the number of donations it has received.

Thus, the content of the viral text about the verdict of the US Supreme Court, which upheld Kennedy Jr.’s claim to recognize COVID-19 vaccines as dangerous, is untrue. Similar publications have been circulating on the Internet for several years, although the US Supreme Court not only did not pass relevant decisions, but did not even consider the statements of one of the leaders of the anti-vaccination movement.

Cover photo: Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Facebook account

Fake

What do our verdicts mean?

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