Kennedy’s hearing signifies how close a man with medically racist beliefs is to becoming the US’s leading health official

During Robert F Kennedy Jr’s Senate confirmation hearing on 30 January, Angela Alsobrooks, a Democratic senator from Maryland, pressed the nominee on his past claims that Black people have a stronger immune system than white people, and thereby should receive vaccines on a different schedule than them. “What different vaccine schedule would you say I should have received?” Alsobrooks, who is Black, asked the health secretary nominee. Kennedy then referenced a “series of studies” showing that “to particular antigens, Blacks have a much stronger reaction”.

The exchange is cause for alarm for many, as it signified how close a man who holds medically racist beliefs was to becoming the country’s leading health official. Dr Richard Kennedy – an author of the study referenced at the hearing, who is not related to Kennedy – told NPR that while it’s true the immune response to vaccination can vary by race, sex and “potentially dozens of other factors”, the data does not support a change in vaccine schedule based on race.