It was one of the more tense exchanges in an already heated confirmation hearing as senators put Robert F Kennedy Jr.'s record on vaccines — and his shifting stances on their safety and efficacy — under the microscope
Senator Angela Alsobrooks, a Democrat from Maryland, pointed to past comments made by Kennedy in which he said, "We should not be giving black people the same vaccine schedule that's given to whites because their immune system is better than ours"
"So what different vaccine schedule would you say I should have received?" asked Alsobrooks, who's Black. "With all due respect, that is so dangerous"
In response, Kennedy cited a well-known vaccine researcher and said there are a "series of studies" showing that "to particular antigens blacks have a much stronger reaction"
The basis for Kennedy's comment appears to be work done by a team at the Mayo Clinic who looked at differences in the immune response to vaccination by race. The data did show African Americans mounted a higher antibody response after MMR (Measles, Mumps, and Rubella) vaccination compared to white people
However, the study's own author tells NPR the data doesn't support a change in vaccine schedule based on race
Dr. Richard Kennedy — a vaccine researcher at the Mayo Clinic who's not related to Robert F Kennedy Jr. — says it's true the immune response to vaccination can vary by race, sex, and "potentially dozens of other factors"
But suggesting that African Americans should have different schedules would be "twisting the data far beyond what they actually demonstrate," he says
Dr. Carlos del Rio, a professor of medicine at Emory University, agrees, saying such a conclusion is "taking it to a very unsafe place," in part because vaccination rates are already lower among Black children
Despite his history of undermining trust in the safety of vaccines, Kennedy has spent the confirmation hearings arguing he's supportive of them
