Falling measles vaccination rates due to many years of Junior's lies, and not just about measles.
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RFK Jr., Whose Dangerous Lies Fueled Measles Outbreak ...
U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (.gov)
Feb 12, 2025 — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose efforts in Samoa to deceive families about measles vaccines led to a deadly outbreak that killed more than 80 people, many of whom
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AI Overview
The spread of COVID-19 misinformation has been attributed primarily to a small group of individuals, with research from the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) identifying a group known as the
"Disinformation Dozen" as being responsible for the bulk of anti-vaccine content online.
A report by the CCDH, which analyzed over 812,000 posts on Facebook and Twitter, found that 12 individuals generated up to 65% of all anti-vaccine content on these platforms. The White House even referenced this report, pressuring social media companies to take action against these "super-spreaders".
The "Disinformation Dozen" includes:
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: A prominent anti-vaccine activist who leads the organization Children's Health Defense and whose accounts have been a primary source of misinformation.
- Joseph Mercola: An osteopathic physician and alternative medicine entrepreneur who heads a large medical misinformation enterprise with millions of followers across social media platforms.
- Ty and Charlene Bollinger: A married couple known for their "Truth About Cancer" brand, who promoted various conspiracy theories, including claims about microchips in vaccines.
- Sherri Tenpenny: An osteopathic physician who made false claims about mask-wearing and vaccine side effects.
- Christiane Northrup: An icon in women's health who encouraged her followers to ignore medical reasoning and rely on their gut feelings.
- Sayer Ji and Kelly Brogan: A couple involved in alternative medicine who promoted pseudoscientific ideas and cherry-picked studies to support their claims.
- Ben Tapper: A chiropractor who claimed the pandemic was a government attempt to control the population.
- Rashid Buttar: An osteopathic physician with a history of promoting unproven treatments.
- Erin Elizabeth: An alternative medicine activist and Joseph Mercola's partner.
- Rizza Islam and Kevin Jenkins: Anti-vaccination activists who focused their misinformation campaigns on the African-American community, comparing vaccine efforts to historical medical abuses like the Tuskegee experiment.
These individuals leveraged their existing online platforms and medical credentials to establish trust with their niche audiences, often directing them to their own websites or YouTube channels, where they sold alternative health products and promoted unproven cures. Research has also shown that bots and right-leaning political accounts played a significant role in amplifying the content generated by these individuals. |
