© 2024 WOSU Public Media
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Brings Anti-Vaccination Message To Statehouse

Gage Skidmore
/
Flickr Creative Commons
Robert Kennedy Jr.

Prominent attorney Robert Kennedy Jr says vaccines are making children sick. The son of former U.S. Attorney General Bobby Kennedy and nephew of former President John F Kennedy spoke at the Ohio Statehouse in favor of a bill that would prohibit employers from mandating employees get vaccines.

Kennedy has become a celebrity of sorts among people who oppose vaccinations.

“We have traded mild childhood infectious diseases with very very low mortalities to the American public for a large number of vaccine induced chronic diseases," Kennedy said.

Kennedy’s views on vaccines are outside the mainstream of most public health organizations.

The bill, House Bill 268, he is supporting has seven sponsors, most conservative Republicans. It would allow workers to opt out of flu shots or other vaccines and would prevent employers from requiring those shots as a condition for employment.

Jo Ingles is a professional journalist who covers politics and Ohio government for the Ohio Public Radio and Television for the Ohio Public Radio and Television Statehouse News Bureau. She reports on issues of importance to Ohioans including education, legislation, politics, and life and death issues such as capital punishment.