A segment of the second day of Robert F. Kennedy’s confirmation hearing that probably didn’t get enough attention:

Senator Angela Alsobrooks, Democrat of Maryland: You were on a show on February 26, 2021, an interview with Dr Judy Mikovits, where you said the following and I quote, ‘we should not be giving black people the same vaccine schedule that’s given to whites. because their immune system is better than ours.’ Can you please explain what you meant?

Kennedy: There’s a series of studies, I think most of them by Poland, that show that to particular antigens, that blacks have a much stronger reaction. There’s differences in reaction to different products by different races.

Alsobrooks: So, I have 17 seconds left. Let me just ask you then, so what different vaccine schedule would you say I should have received?

Kennedy: What?

Alsobrooks: What different vaccine schedule should I have received?

Kennedy: I mean the — the Poland article suggests that blacks need fewer antigens than–

(crosstalk)

Alsobrooks: This is so dangerous–

Kennedy: — get the same measles vaccine—

Alsobrooks: Mr. Kennedy, with all due respect, that is so dangerous. your voice would be a voice that parents would listen to, that is so dangerous. I will be voting against your nomination because your views are dangerous to our state and to our country

Kennedy: Do you think science is dangerous, senator?

Certain diseases are more prevalent among certain ethnic or racial groups than others. Lupus is three times more common in African American women than in Caucasian women, Tay-Sachs disease is more common among Ashkenazi Jews, etc. (Readers of Hunting Four Horsemen may recall the references to groups of people whose genetic code makes them either immune to, or minimally affected by, anthrax and malaria.)

However, the fact that a disease is more prevalent among one group than another does not mean that those groups are not at risk of contracting it at all. The fact that there is genetic variety in human beings means that sometimes one ethnic group will, on average, generate a higher or lower level of antibodies in response to a vaccination. Let’s also make clear that we’re measuring differences based on genetic ancestry, which is not necessarily the same thing as race; lots of people take DNA ancestry tests and learn that their racial identity is not what they thought it was, or more complicated than they believed.

Kennedy’s statement on the podcast, “their immune system is better than ours” is highly misleading because of the sheer variety of pathogens; no ethnic group has an across-the-board “better” immune system. Lupus makes your body’s immune system attack your own tissues and organs, so in those circumstances, the immune system that Kennedy characterizes as  “better” is in fact a major problem for the body.

No serious medical institution has called for race-based vaccination schedules.

You can find studies indicating the different antibody responses, and you don’t have to look as far as Poland; well-regarded institutions such as the Mayo Clinic have found this in studies.

Somali Americans develop twice the antibody response to rubella from the current vaccine compared to Caucasians in a new Mayo Clinic study on individualized aspects of immune response. A non-Somali, African-American cohort ranked next in immune response, still significantly higher than Caucasians, and Hispanic Americans in the study were least responsive to the vaccine. The findings appear in the journal Vaccine.

Or this 2016 study looking at responses to the influenza (flu) vaccine:

The efficacy and immunogenicity of vaccines varies depending on the study cohort. Race and ethnicity were shown to affect antibody responses to the rubella vaccine, which elicited significantly higher titers in children of African ethnicity compared to those of European descent or Hispanic ethnicity [1]. A study conducted in the US found significantly higher seroprevalence rates of antibodies to measles virus in African Americans compared to Caucasians [2] and antibody titers to the pertussis vaccine were strongly and consistently higher in African American children compared to Caucasian children [3]. A similar study conducted in Northern Canada showed that native Innuit and Innu infants developed higher antibody titers to a measles vaccine as compared to those of Caucasian descent [4]. Disparities in serologic responses to vaccines were also observed between different ethnic groups for the Haemophilus influenzae type b-tetanus toxoid conjugate vaccine [5], or the Haemophilus influenzae type b polysaccharide-Neisseria meningitidis outer membrane protein conjugate vaccine [6]. There is thus ample evidence that ethnicity affects responsiveness to a vaccine.

You know what no one involved in this research concluded? “Ah-ha, well, I guess this means Somali-Americans or African-Americans need fewer vaccines”! (I know, I know, “Big Pharma” and the Illuminati and the Cigarette-Smoking-Man got to them before they could make that recommendation.)

RFK Jr. hears things and reads things, and half-remembers them, then makes sweeping conclusions from what he misremembers, and insists he’s merely citing “the science.” It’s hard to tell exactly what Kennedy was trying to say during the crosstalk, but it sounded like he was suggesting Alsobrooks needed fewer doses or a smaller dose of the measles vaccine because she was black. That seems like a spectacularly dangerous mindset to have running the Department of Health and Human Services.

The good news is that the vaccination rates between blacks and whites are high and roughly equal for polio, chicken pox, Measles, Mumps, and Rubella, and for adolescents Tetanus-Diphtheria, Human Papillomavirus (HPV) and Hepatitis B. As we get older, there are bigger racial gaps in getting the pneumococcal (pneumonia) vaccine, flu vaccine, and hepatitis B (HepB) vaccine.