RFK Jr.'s troubling candidacy looms - The Boston Globe

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Presidential hopeful poses a serious danger to our democracy, our nation, and the world

Re “Running on Kennedy name, with resistance” (Page A1, July 18): As a devoted protege of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s uncle John F. Kennedy, a lifelong supporter of his uncle Ted, and a great admirer of his father, Bobby, I’m horrified by RFK Jr.’s unfounded and dangerous conspiracy theories. I’m deeply alarmed by his potential danger to our democracy, our country, and our reputation as a nation.

His uncles and father inspired me and a generation of young Americans to join the Peace Corps, serve our country, and build respect for the United States around the world.

RFK Jr.’s dangerous intrusion into our national election seriously risks a return of Donald Trump to the White House, thus undermining everything his uncles and father worked so hard to achieve.

He should go back to where he belongs, promoting environmental conservation and the important work that is urgently needed to reverse the climate change that threatens our planet.

To continue his misguided political campaign threatens our future.

Malcolm Odell

Exeter, N.H.

The writer was in the first group of Peace Corps volunteers to serve in Nepal from 1962 to 1967.

The argument against vaccines is beside the point. Their value is clear, proven, and measurable.

The argument against vaccines promoted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and letter writer Cherie Slesnick (“They like what they see in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,” July 17) is that vaccines can do harm. That is not the pertinent argument, however. As with most decisions in medicine, the consideration ought to be: What is the harm if you do something as opposed to the harm of doing nothing or doing something else instead.

Compared with the pre-vaccination era, current routinely used childhood and adult vaccinations have saved the lives of tens of thousands of children and adults in the United States each year. They also have prevented a large number of children from sustaining neurological damage, such as stroke and encephalitis, often resulting in epilepsy and intellectual, learning, and motor disability, even when not leading to death.

While there is no doubt that vaccines can and do harm, the estimates for unexpected death with routinely used vaccines are in the range of 1 in 100,000 to 1 in 1 million. In relation to COVID-19, the relevant metric ought to be the 1 in 50,000 cases of clotting or heart inflammation associated with the vaccine compared with the prevention of millions of COVID-related deaths and the likely prevention of long-term organ system damage, including cases related to the brain and heart.

Dr. Karl Kuban

Plymouth

The writer is a professor emeritus of pediatrics and neurology at the Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine.

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