Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his harmful ideas about so-called alternative medicine (SCAM)

You probably heard about American Academy of Pediatrics et al. v. Kennedy et al., the law suit brought by the AAP and several other medical organisations against Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr). The case was ruled on March 16, 2026. Judge Brian E. Murphy of the US District Court for Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction that temporarily blocked the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) from overhauling the national childhood vaccine schedule. Judge Murphy’s decision addressed the US government’s deviation from historical and legal standards:

• “There is a method to how decisions about vaccine recommendations have historically been made—a method scientific in nature and codified into law through procedural requirements. Unfortunately, the government has disregarded those methods and thereby undermined the integrity of its actions.”

In reference to the controversial reconstitution of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), where 17 members were replaced by appointees chosen by RFK Jr., Judge Murphy noted:

• “The appointment process, in general, and thus the full committee was tainted.”

These are clear, strong and necessary statements. The harmful ideas and actions of RFK Jr. have become legion. Sadly, this also includes the area of so-called alternative medicine (SCAM). RFK Jr. has long been a vocal proponent of SCAM. Here is a(n almost certainly incomplete) list of what, in the past, he said on this subject:

• “FDA’s war on public health is about to end. This includes its aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric oxygen, chelating agents, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything else that advances human health and can’t be patented by Pharma.”
• “If you want to use alternative medicines, you should have the right to do that. The government shouldn’t be telling you that you can’t use a natural product that’s been used for thousands of years.”
• “We are seeing an explosion of chronic disease. We need to look at our food system and look at the way we’re treating our bodies, focusing on nutrition and holistic health rather than just a pill for every ill.”
• “I’m going to tell the NIH: We’re going to stop studying infectious diseases for a while and we’re going to start studying chronic diseases… We’re going to look at why our children are so sick, and we’re going to look at the environmental factors, including the toxins in our food and the lack of natural remedies.”
• “Regenerative agriculture and clean eating are the best ‘alternative medicines’ we have. We are literally poisoning our children with processed foods and then wondering why we have a mental health crisis.”
• “The evidence is overwhelming that substances like psilocybin and ivermectin—I mean, psilocybin and MDMA—can provide breakthroughs for PTSD and depression that traditional SSRIs simply cannot match.”
•  “During the pandemic, the authorities should have been telling people to get sun, exercise, and take Vitamin D and Zinc. Instead, they told us to stay indoors and wait for a vaccine.”
•  “The chiropractic profession has long sought greater recognition… Under [this] leadership, HHS is expected to promote greater integration of chiropractic care into federal health programs.”
• During his visits to institutions like Life University and Sherman College of Chiropractic, he has praised the field for its “vital role in addressing today’s healthcare challenges” without relying on pharmaceuticals.
• He has signalled support for initiatives like the “Data Lake project,” which seeks to provide scientific validation and evidence-based data for chiropractic treatments to help them become more “mainstream.”
• “FDA’s war on public health is about to end. This includes its aggressive suppression of… peptides, vitamins, clean foods, nutraceuticals and anything else that advances human health and can’t be patented by Pharma.”
• He has advocated for allowing supplement makers to make broader “disease-prevention claims” (e.g., Vitamin A for measles or Zinc for the common cold) without the same level of FDA oversight required for synthetic drugs.
• “I am a supplement enthusiast… [I] can’t even remember all the ones I take.” He has frequently promoted specific substances like Methylene Blue and high-dose Vitamin D as “best-kept secrets” of biohacking and longevity.
• “If you want to use alternative medicines, you should have the right to do that. The government shouldn’t be telling you that you can’t use a natural product that’s been used for thousands of years.”
• “We shouldn’t be telling people they can’t use a natural product just because it doesn’t fit the microbiological paradigm of the last 50 years.”
• “The best way to overcome depression is to wake up each morning and pray: ‘Please make me useful to another human being today.’ That is medicine.”
• We are going to prioritize non-opioid pain management. This means bringing therapies like acupuncture out of the ‘alternative’ fringe and into the center of our federal health strategy.”
• “The science is there for acupuncture, but the funding hasn’t been because you can’t patent a needle. We are going to change the NIH’s priorities to fund the studies that Big Pharma won’t.”
• “MAHA is about choice. If a patient finds relief through acupuncture rather than a bottle of Percocet, the system should support that, not penalize it.”
• “We have become a sedentary, indoor species. Qigong and mindful movement are essential for moving the ‘qi’—or what we might call the cellular energy—that prevents the stagnation leading to chronic disease.”
• “The FDA’s war on public health includes the aggressive suppression of… anything that advances human health and can’t be patented by Pharma. This includes natural products and traditional medicines used for thousands of years.”
• “Why do we treat TCM like a superstition while we’re importing 90% of our synthetic precursors from China? We should be looking at the wisdom of their traditional botanical medicine to help solve our own chronic disease epidemic.”

The incompetence of RFK Jr. could be hilariously funny. Yet, I’m afraid, considering the power he has, it is not funny at all. In fact, I find it frightening. As you probably know, I am not alone in criticising RFK Jr. Here are a few prominent people who seem to agree with me:

• “RFK Jr. is a fountain of misinformation… His claims about vaccines are not just wrong; they are dangerous and have led to real-world harm, including the deaths of children.” — Dr. Peter Hotez, Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.
• “He takes a small grain of truth and surrounds it with a mountain of lies. He is an expert at cherry-picking data to support a predetermined, unscientific conclusion.” — Dr. Paul Offit, Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
• “Kennedy was a significant part of the reason that the vaccination rate in Samoa dropped so low… When you have a celebrity coming in and telling people vaccines are dangerous, people listen, and in this case, children died.” — Dr. Helen Petousis-Harris, Vaccinologist and Associate Professor at the University of Auckland.
• “His rhetoric on ‘environmental toxins’ often lacks any grounding in toxicology or dose-response relationships. He uses the language of science to promote pseudoscience.” — David Gorski, MD, PhD, surgical oncologist and editor of Science-Based Medicine.
• “By attacking the integrity of the FDA and CDC without evidence, Kennedy isn’t just questioning policy—he is dismantling the very foundations of public trust necessary to manage a pandemic or any health crisis.” — Dr. Ashish Jha, former White House COVID-19 Response Coordinator and Dean of the Brown University School of Public Health.
• “Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s views on vaccines are not a ‘different perspective.’ They are a rejection of 70 years of established biological science.” — Dr. Richard Pan, Pediatrician and former California State Senator.
• “RFK Jr. preys on the anxieties of parents. He uses fear to fill the vacuum left by a lack of scientific literacy, which is the most cynical form of advocacy.” — Seth Mnookin, Professor at MIT and author of The Panic Virus.
• “To compare public health measures like masking or vaccines to the Holocaust is not only historically illiterate but a profound insult to the victims of actual atrocities. It disqualifies him as a serious voice in health policy.” — The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum (Official Statement in response to Kennedy’s rhetoric).
• “The tragedy of RFK Jr. is that he uses his considerable platform and famous name to promote theories that have been debunked dozens of times over. In public health, facts save lives; his ‘facts’ do the opposite.” — Dr. Jerome Adams, former U.S. Surgeon General.

I CONGRATULATE JUDGE MURPHY FOR HIS COURAGE AND I DO HOPE THAT HIS RULING IS THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF KENNEDY’S MEDICAL VANDALISM.