RFK Jr’s weird voice
RFK Jr sounds weird. I don’t mean his ideas about vaccines and contagious disease. I mean that when he vocalizes, it sounds . . . creaky.
RFK Jr has a condition called “spasmodic dysphonia.” It’s known to have a genetic component. But this is RFK Jr, so of course he blames vaccines.
“In an interview with the outlet, Kennedy said he took annual flu shots until the mid-1990s, then stopped in 2005 “when I began looking at the side effects.”
“I was preparing litigation against some of the flu shots several years ago and one of the entries that was listed on a lot of them was spasmodic dysphonia, which is an injury I have to my voice. That’s why my voice is so screwed up,” Kennedy said.
“That turns out to be a vaccine injury,” he continued. “Do I know it was caused by the annual flu shot? I have no idea.”
“When pressed by the interviewer, who asked if he suspected it was caused by the vaccine, he said it’s “a possibility.”
“It’s a potential culprit that I cannot rule out, but I can’t prove it,” he said. “I’d like to know. We should have that data but we don’t.”
Actually, we do have data. Plenty of data.
“Greg Poland, MD, president of the Atria Academy of Science and Medicine in New York City who has studied vaccine side effects, said there’s “no known linkage of cause and effect” between flu shots and spasmodic dysphonia, and no research has demonstrated anything to this effect.
“This is why as scientists we are suspicious of the idea that temporality is causality,” Poland said. “If this were a real side effect of flu vaccines, we would have many, many reports after the billions of doses that have been given. Given that, how would you ‘gather the data’ he would like to gather?”
With RFK Jr, as with Donald Trump, the null hypothesis is that he’s lying. The burden of proof rests with those who claim he’s telling the truth.
“Any chance he gets, he tries to raise fears about vaccines,” [Paul Offit, MD] said. “That’s who he is. His job is to make vaccines more feared, less available, and less affordable.”
RFK Jr blames vaccines for everything
RFK Jr has a condition called “spasmodic dysphonia.” It’s known to have a genetic component. But this is RFK Jr, so of course he blames vaccines.
“In an interview with the outlet, Kennedy said he took annual flu shots until the mid-1990s, then stopped in 2005 “when I began looking at the side effects.”
“I was preparing litigation against some of the flu shots several years ago and one of the entries that was listed on a lot of them was spasmodic dysphonia, which is an injury I have to my voice. That’s why my voice is so screwed up,” Kennedy said.
“That turns out to be a vaccine injury,” he continued. “Do I know it was caused by the annual flu shot? I have no idea.”
“When pressed by the interviewer, who asked if he suspected it was caused by the vaccine, he said it’s “a possibility.”
“It’s a potential culprit that I cannot rule out, but I can’t prove it,” he said. “I’d like to know. We should have that data but we don’t.”
Actually, we do have data. Plenty of data.
“Greg Poland, MD, president of the Atria Academy of Science and Medicine in New York City who has studied vaccine side effects, said there’s “no known linkage of cause and effect” between flu shots and spasmodic dysphonia, and no research has demonstrated anything to this effect.
“This is why as scientists we are suspicious of the idea that temporality is causality,” Poland said. “If this were a real side effect of flu vaccines, we would have many, many reports after the billions of doses that have been given. Given that, how would you ‘gather the data’ he would like to gather?”
With RFK Jr, as with Donald Trump, the null hypothesis is that he’s lying. The burden of proof rests with those who claim he’s telling the truth.
“Any chance he gets, he tries to raise fears about vaccines,” [Paul Offit, MD] said. “That’s who he is. His job is to make vaccines more feared, less available, and less affordable.”
RFK Jr blames vaccines for everything
Keeping with the family tradition: grampa made his pile running down the coast from New Brunswick, lowercase j selling snake oil. Capitalism! Whatever the market bears
I still can’t find the words as a guy who prides himself on being Mr Natural … eat right, don’t drink or use drugs, exercise daily … to describe just how much this guy pisses me off. When he isn’t selling snake oil he’s discrediting everything I’ve put years into. It fits my theory of conspiracy theories: there are those who post the wackiest of conspiracy theories so as to discredit valid fields of inquiry as wacky. And make bank
To this better informed than most layman “genetic connection” is inbred …
Questionable assertion: “there’s “no known linkage of cause and effect” between flu shots and spasmodic dysphonia, and no research has demonstrated anything to this effect.” https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33063519/
How much research has actually been done into the causes of spasmodic dysphonia?
Let’s not forget that the tobacco industry spent decades denying the link between smoking and cancer. Big Pharma has an enormous vested interest in convincing the public of the safety of its products and discouraging investigation.
@John,
LOL! Your link is based on reports from VAERS. That’s not research data. VAERS is largely a self-reported system, relying on individuals (patients, parents) and healthcare providers to submit reports of events that occur after vaccination. The data are voluntary, unverified, and cannot be used to demonstrate a *causal* link to the vaccine. Even the abstract acknowledges that further research is needed to make a link. You need to read the paper and understand it before citing it.
“How much research has actually been done into the causes of spasmodic dysphonia?”
I don’t know. The universe of things that *don’t* cause spasmodic dysphonia is very large. The burden of proof that it’s linked to *vaccines* falls on those making the assertion. That burden has never been met.
As for the link between tobacco and cancer, yes, Big Pharma *wanted* to discourage research, but it failed. Research went on anyway and the evidence piled up linking cancer to tobacco use. It was no secret.
You seem to have confused assertions and motivations with data and evidence.
Instead of knee-jerk criticism of RFK, critics should simply put the onus on him to put up or shut up–provide research evidence or funding for such research.
The same should be true for people who assert without evidence that products are “safe.”
Instead of repeating the endless studies into the effects of coffee, caffeine, and wine, research monies would be better spent on researching the side-effects of products in the vast universe of newly concocted substances which are injected or ingested based on trust in profit seeking Big Pharma.
@John,
“Instead of knee-jerk criticism of RFK, critics should simply put the onus on him to put up or shut up–provide research evidence or funding for such research.”
Instead of knee-jerk reaction to criticism of RFK, you should simply read the existing research. There are already plenty of data testifying to the safety and efficacy of vaccines. Why do you ignore the data?
“. . . based on trust in profit seeking Big Pharma.”
LOL!! You obviously don’t know anything about the drug approval process in the US. It is “not” based on “trust” in Big Pharma, as anyone who understands the actual, you know, FDA approval process will tell you.
Every time you post here, you provide more evidence to discredit your posts.
FDA Approval
Once or more times for each particular approval and manufacturing process. Been there and monitored the process to meet demand. Rituxan was still in approval and they need FDA (etc.) approval to use it with me. Slept deeply each time. Once I spent an evening shaking (special term which eludes me right now). It did work though.
@Bill,
Rigors?
Non-infectious causes of rigors
Widespread skin inflammation (including sunburn, burns, psoriasis). Reactions to medicines (including some street drugs). Inflammatory conditions, such as Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis. Some cancers.
Joel:
U of M hospital had started to dose people faster with Rituxan. I had a reaction (that evening) to the dose as a result. They went back to the old and slower method. Reaction problem solved.
I spent a couple of hours shaking that evening.