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A Project of The Annenberg Public Policy Center

Issues: childhood illness

RFK Jr.’s Exaggerations on Chronic Disease in Children

RFK Jr.’s Exaggerations on Chronic Disease in Children
August 2, 2024

Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has given children’s health and the “chronic disease epidemic” a prominent role in his campaign. Diagnoses of a variety of chronic conditions in children have increased in recent decades, but likely not to the extent that Kennedy claims or for the reasons he gives.

Williamson Misleads on Children’s Health, Vaccines

Williamson Misleads on Children’s Health, Vaccines
August 20, 2019

In a July 31 television interview, Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson inaccurately implied there might be a connection between vaccines and higher reported rates of childhood chronic diseases. She is correct that reported rates of chronic conditions in kids have increased over the last several decades, but there is no scientific evidence to suggest vaccines are the cause.