Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is running for president of the United States in 2024 as a Democrat. But at a recent dinner in the posh Upper East Side community of Manhattan, New York, Kennedy tried to inject another kind of race into a verbal exchange about Covid-19. He claimed that “Covid-19 aims to target Caucasians and Black people” and that “the most immune people are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people. “Backing up what Kennedy had claimed, smart luck. That’s because, surprise, surprise, Kennedy didn’t really provide anything concrete for what he said, if there was any.
Mmmm, a politician who seeks to make severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) a racial factor without offering good enough clinical evidence?Hell, when has this happened before? A New York Post article written through Jon Levine gave the impression of being the first media outlet to reveal this RFK Jr. story, describing the occasion as a “raucous, fart-filled dinner at Tony’s Di Napoli on East 63d Street. “A New York Post video of the occasion didn’t show the farts, at least not audible, but other types of hot air did. You can watch the video in the following tweet from MeidasTouch:
Yes, that’s RFK Jr. talking about Covid-19 and race, assuming the guy in the video was him and not a double android or some other conspiracy theory. And does this discussion of race include a certain diversity?It’s not transparent as we only see 3 other people in the camera frame.
However, Kennedy was quick to verbally exchange by first stating that he knew a lot about biological weapons. Did you paint in a laboratory? Did you dedicate yourself to science?No, he said he had been “writing an e-book about it for two and a half years. “Of course, writing an ebook on any topic in no way promises that you’ll be an expert in the field.
He went on to claim that the U. S. and China had invested many millions of dollars in the progression of “ethnically targeted microbes. “It’s unclear what evidence he had that this happened. And in the video, he didn’t scientifically explain how precisely the microbes would develop. After all, unlike humans, microbes in general are sometimes not distinguished by their superficial appearance. You probably wouldn’t hear germs say something like, “I’d rather be among blondes” or something like that. Sure, a respiratory pathogen like SARS-CoV-2 can escape you if you don’t have a nose, mouth, and respiratory system, but you probably have bigger disorders to worry about if you do.
Kennedy went on to say, “Covid-19. Es an argument that this is an ethnic target. Covid-19 disproportionately attacks certain races. Covid-19 aims to target Caucasians and Black people. The most immune people are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese. “Is there any discussion? Did you locate it on the sidewalk? Which reputable scientist argued that Covid-19 targeted along ethnic lines?”
Kennedy went on to say, “We don’t know if this was an intentional target or not, however, there are articles that show racial or ethnic differences and impact. However, it did not cite or produce any of those articles.
Of course, studies have shown that certain breeds have been disproportionately affected by Covid-19. However, if you take a closer look at those studies, you’ll notice a lot of data and explanations that Kennedy didn’t mention. For example, a January 2022 publication in Lancet Public Health highlighted how various socioeconomic and environmental points, such as income, employment, and access to essential sports facilities, have made some communities more vulnerable to Covid-19. Review of the available clinical literature. For example, in the United States, many other people of color likely would not have had jobs that allowed them to work remotely or get tested for Covid-19. They would possibly not have had equivalent access to quality physical care and would have experienced discrimination by the physical care system, which could also have affected their likelihood of contracting Covid-19 and suffering more severe consequences from Covid-19. In addition, low-income neighborhoods, which have disproportionately other people of color, would likely be more densely populated and not have smart indoor air filtration, two things that can make it easier for SARS-CoV-2 to spread.
Unsurprisingly, RFK Jr. ‘s comments were rejected. The New York Post article quoted a member of the Anti-Defamation League as saying, “The claim that Covid-19 was a bioweapon created by the Chinese or Jews to target Caucasians and Black people is deeply offensive and fuels Sinophobic and anti-Semitic discourse. Conspiracy theories about Covid-19 that we have observed evolve over the past three years. However, the New York Post article fails to mention most of the clinical evidence available to date. suggests a plant origin of SARS-CoV-2, meaning that the virus likely jumped from some other animal to humans, rather than a lab or human.
On July 15, RFK Jr. posted the following New York Post article on Twitter:
From Twitter
As you can see, this tweet reaffirmed some of his claims and provided a post from BMC Medicine that he said backs up what he said. But if we take a closer look at the examination described in the post, it literally doesn’t serve as “some sort of proof-of-concept for biological weapons targeting ethnic groups,” as Kennedy insisted in his tweet. Dan Freedman, DO, an assistant professor of neurology at the University of Texas Dell Medical School, noted on Twitter what this study showed:
Freedman noted that “the study examined human genomes for polymorphisms in the ACE2 receptor that the SARS-CoV2 virus uses to enter cells. They found small changes that could simply be related to ethnic differences. He added that the study didn’t show that those differences in the severity of Covid-19 in any way. In the same thread, Freedman went on to point out that many Jews and Chinese have suffered and died from Covid-19 during the pandemic:
Yes, none of this is to say that Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese are immune to Covid-19 and that SARS-CoV-2 can be used as a bioweapon directed against an ethnic base. And even if it were, one exam wouldn’t be enough for anything. When you make strong claims like RFK Jr. did, you’d better have several studies to back up what you’re claiming.
This wasn’t the first time RFK Jr. had brought race into discussions about Covid-19. In January 2022, Kennedy compared the needs of the Covid-19 vaccine to what happened in the Holocaust, saying, “Even in Hitler’s Germany, it is possible that you will simply cross from the Alps to Switzerland. Maybe you’ll hide in an attic like Anne Frank did,” as Marlene Lenthang reports for NBC News. Kennedy later apologized for the comments.
One of the most tragic facets of the Covid-19 pandemic has been repeated attempts by politicians and other figures to racialize the virus in some way. This has led to SARS-CoV-2 and Covid-19 being called the “Chinese virus”. and the “kung flu”. This is despite Asian Americans calling on politicians not to do so, as it could further incite the anti-Asian hatred that has occurred throughout the pandemic, as I have done in the past discussed in Forbes. There is no genuine evidence that the virus was directed through one breed organization to attack another race organization. Viruses tend to infect anyone. Their only interest is to contribute and contribute to the progression of their species. Unfortunately, this is not always the case in humans.