Anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr, a member of a storied US political dynasty, is because of announce a long-shot bid to problem incumbent President Joe Biden for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination.
Kennedy, 69, faces little probability of success, however his marketing campaign may assist him to advance claims that childhood immunizations pose well being dangers – a idea that has been repeatedly discredited by a number of scientific opinions.
Kennedy has been banned from YouTube and Instagram for spreading misinformation about vaccines and the COVID-19 pandemic.
He’s the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1963, and the son of former senator Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968 throughout his personal presidential bid.
Kennedy is more likely to spotlight these hyperlinks when he makes his announcement in Boston, the town the place his uncles – additionally together with the late Senator Edward Kennedy – launched their political careers.
His anti-vaccine activism has earned him allies on the precise. In 2017, Republican then-president Donald Trump tapped him to supervise a vaccine overview panel, drawing criticism from scientists who stated it may legitimize unfounded scepticism.
In the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kennedy criticized social-distancing necessities and vaccine mandates. At a January 2022 rally in Washington he steered that People had fewer freedoms through the pandemic than Jews dwelling in Nazi Germany. He later apologized for his remarks.
Kennedy stated on Twitter final month that he was contemplating a presidential run to “finish the corrupt merger between state and company energy”.
Self-help guru Marianne Williamson has additionally stated she is going to problem Biden for the Democratic nomination.
Biden, 80, stated on Friday that he’ll run for re-election and can make a proper announcement “comparatively quickly”.
