Do Your Own Research: RFK Jr. and the Rise of Medical Distrust
Do Your Own Research: RFK Jr. and the Rise of Medical Distrust
Opinion Editorial
By Rafael Torres
Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. doesn’t believe in the scientific method, and his pattern of challenging traditional medicine with ‘trust me, bro’ mirrors a growing trend in our country. His habit of citing unscientific sources to justify his ignorant, and at times, racist, claims echoes a reshaping of critical thinking into confirmation bias.
People can now easily search on Google, YouTube, or Chat-GPT for any answer they want. The resulting echo chamber that forms, where people find only information that confirms their bias, fosters distrust in the medical community. The existing distrust in medicine, RFK Jr.’s rhetoric, and the growing availability of information all contribute to what we can coin “The RFK Jr. Effect.” This issue should be addressed head-on with understanding, humility, and change, not by writing off doubts as a sign of low intelligence or maliciousness.
A 2023 Gallup Poll found that only one-third of Americans have “a great deal” or “quite a lot” of confidence in the medical system. Data from a KFF Tracking Poll specifically show significant levels of distrust in the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine. Despite more than a decade of research, people still have questions that are often inadequately answered. Although many professionals have made efforts to communicate medicine in plain language, the disconnect remains. During my time on primary care clinical rotations, I found that a substantial number of patients who voiced concerns cited “doing their own research.” When I asked where they did this research, they often referred to Facebook posts, YouTubers or TikToks.
Regrettably, RFK Jr. has used his positions of power to capitalize on the vulnerability of people with similar skepticism as my patients. In 2018, human error in administering the measles vaccine to two Samoan babies resulted in their deaths. Although the vaccine was reinstated after an investigation confirmed it was safe, many Samoans understandably developed doubts about a vaccination moving forward. When RFK Jr. visited Samoa a year later, he took advantage of the suffering families and falsely attributed the deaths of these innocent babies to vaccines through his anti-vaccine nonprofit, Children’s Health Defense. The measles outbreak that followed killed 83 people, most of them small children.
This tragic outcome highlights what happens when influential figures spread misinformation rooted not in science but in ideology. It reflects a shift away from evidence-based reasoning toward emotional appeal and selective information, presented as independent thinking.
Listening, one of the most important skills a health care professional can have, paves a foundation of respect that is crucial to changing people’s minds. When patients raise concerns about vaccine efficacy, eliciting their specific worries and acknowledging the emotions beneath them changes the way we communicate our response. Taking a moment to ask what concerns them about vaccines is the first step in rebuilding understanding.
Rafael is an M4 at UICOMR
rafaelt3@uic.edu