Bill Nye revealed a barrage of outdated textual content messages from Well being and Human Providers Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a few of which had been hyperlinks to articles selling vaccine skepticism.
“And in case you learn these articles he despatched, they’re all this hypothesis about autism and simply cause-and-effect, and mercury in vaccines, that perhaps there’s a connection,” Nye advised Men’s Health in an interview published Tuesday.
Nye, often called “Invoice Nye the Science Man” after his widespread Nineteen Nineties instructional present of the identical identify, advised the journal that he and Kennedy met by way of a mutual good friend a number of years in the past when Kennedy was an environmental activist. Nye didn’t specify precisely how outdated the textual content messages had been.
Nye stated Kennedy had “simply no self-awareness” throughout their textual content alternate, which included what Males’s Well being described as “miles and miles” of lengthy messages from Kennedy, with little response from Nye.
“I wrote him again and stated, ‘Okay, I’ll learn your guide. I believe you’ve confused causation with correlation.’ Your good friend, Invoice,” Nye recalled.
Kennedy responded with what the journal known as “extra miles of texts.”
“So I wrote, ‘Okay, no extra texts,’” Nye stated. “And he began once more! So I minimize him off,” Nye stated. “He doesn’t have common sense. He’s not suited to this job.”
HuffPost reached out to HHS to handle Nye’s feedback. A spokesperson advised HuffPost, “Kennedy is main one of the bold public well being reform efforts in trendy historical past, grounded in proof, radical transparency, and a real dedication to the American folks.”
Kennedy has made a number of questionable choices throughout his tenure as well being and human companies secretary.
Final month, Kennedy’s division launched the “Make America Wholesome Once more” report, which cited nonexistent research — a priority the White Home known as a “formatting error.”
This week, he eliminated all members of the U.S. vaccine advisory panel. To date, his new appointees have included two people recognized for spreading vaccine misinformation.
One decide is Dr. Robert Malone, a former mRNA researcher who instructed that COVID-19 vaccines trigger a type of AIDS, and downplayed deaths associated to one of many largest measles outbreaks within the U.S.
In his interview with Males’s Well being, Nye expressed anger at individuals who argue they’ve the suitable to not get vaccinated.
“No, you don’t!” he stated. “And unvaccinated folks can, and normally do, unfold a illness. And that’s why we’ve these guidelines, for public well being! It’s not arbitrary. It’s not about your rights. It’s about my rights, folks.”
