In the 1993 movie, Jurassic Park, the velociraptors are testing the electrified fences looking for weaknesses. A scientist explains how their systematic efforts show that they can learn. Is RFK Jr. also able to learn from experience?

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In his book, The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health, RFK Jr. rejects the germ theory, which states that specific germs cause specific diseases, and instead embraces the “terrain theory,” which argues that people who are well nourished don’t suffer serious illness: “The terrain is everything, the microbe is nothing.”

In 2025, RFK Jr.’s beliefs were made public when, after two little girls died from measles pneumonia in West Texas, he claimed that they had died because they were malnourished, which wasn’t true. Rather than promote the measles vaccine, which he claimed caused “blindness, deafness, and death,” RFK Jr. promoted vitamin A, which he claimed caused “almost miraculous and instantaneous recovery.” RFK Jr. directed the CDC to update its measles guidance to promote vitamin A as a treatment.

Parents listened. As the outbreak in West Texas spread from 10 cases to 58 to 90 to 198, parents rushed to their pharmacies to buy cod liver oil, which is rich in vitamin A, certain that this would prevent or treat measles. Within weeks, the Covenant Children’s Hospital in Lubbock, Texas, had treated 10 children with liver damage caused by vitamin A toxicity. The liver, which stores vitamin A, can be overwhelmed with large doses, causing oxidative stress and inflammation. The Hospital warned parents against using vitamin A to treat measles.

The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends vitamin A to treat measles in countries in the developing world where vitamin A deficiency affects up to 30 percent of the population. In the developed world, however, vitamin A deficiency is rare, affecting only 0.3 percent of the population. In 2021, a study performed in Italy proved that vitamin A didn’t shorten hospital stays, lower fever, or prevent complications in children hospitalized with measles. RFK Jr. hasn’t promoted vitamin A as a treatment for measles since March 2025. Is it possible that his experiences with vitamin A have changed his mind? Were 10 children hospitalized with vitamin A toxicity simply too many for him to bear?

If that’s true, how many more children must be hospitalized and die from vaccine-preventable diseases to get RFK Jr. to change his mind about vaccines?

For example, in 2025:

• After about 6,000 people had suffered measles in the United States, 500 had been hospitalized, and five people had died, RFK Jr. stood proudly next to President Trump when Trump insisted that the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine be broken up into three separate vaccines, arguing that the combination was “explosive” and “quite lethal.” Apparently, thousands of cases, hundreds of hospitalizations, and several deaths weren’t enough to convince RFK Jr. about the importance of not scaring people about the safety of the measles vaccine.
• After hundreds of thousands of children were hospitalized and an estimated 800 children had died of influenza, RFK Jr. told CBS News that children “might be better if fewer got the flu vaccine.” Again, this wasn’t enough suffering and death to cause RFK Jr. to change his mind about the influenza vaccine.
• After about 28,000 children had been hospitalized with whooping cough and 16 had died from the disease, RFK Jr. never mentioned how heartbreaking it is to watch children struggle to breathe through narrowed windpipes until they lose that struggle. Still, not enough suffering and death for RFK Jr. to change his mind about the importance of a pertussis vaccine.

Now, we are forced to wait until enough children have suffered, been hospitalized, and died from vaccine-preventable diseases for RFK Jr. to loudly and clearly speak up for vaccines in the same way that he is now silent about vitamin A. And so … we wait.

Paul A. Offit, MD, is director of the Vaccine Education Center and professor of pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. This piece originally ran on his Substack, Beyond the Noise!

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