RFK Jr. And Krystal Ball Clash Over His Anti-Vaccine Stance: ‘I’m Not Persuaded’

2024 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and commentator Krystal Ball went head to head over his stance on vaccines.

The exchange took place on the special Wednesday edition of the Breaking Points podcast in which Kennedy was given time to explain his platform and discuss a variety of topics from Ukraine, immigration, and covid. But one elephant in the room that Ball could not overlook was Kennedy’s staunch views on vaccines. For years Kennedy has been anti-vaccine and his advocacy has reached new heights since the Covid pandemic.

“This scenario where you and I have significant differences and just to level with you on this, like a lot of what you say I really respond to, I think you’re a very genuine person, but… whether you wanna call it vaccine skepticism or anti-vaxx advocacy…for me personally, it’s an issue and it’s a real sort of red line,” Ball said.

She said that she’s not alone in her thinking, especially with Kennedy running for the Democratic ticket. Ball asked how Kennedy would persuade voters with her same mindset to vote for him.

“Tell me where you think I got it wrong,” Kennedy replied.

“Well, I think you get it wrong when you draw a correlation between the rise of things like autism and the introduction of vaccines, when there isn’t hard scientific evidence tying those things together,” Ball said, saying the study that Kennedy often sites has been retracted.

“I’ve listened to hours of interviews with you, with an open mind and I’m not persuaded,” she added as Kennedy struggled to get a word in. She would ask the question again about how Kennedy plans to win over voters who support vaccines.

“I’m not leading with my opinions about vaccines. What I say to people is, show me where I got it wrong. Show me where I got my science wrong. I’ve written books about this…” Kennedy said.

“But I think people have shown you where things are wrong, but you don’t wanna hear it,” Ball replied referencing a fact check of a previous interview of Kennedy’s by Dr. Vinay Prasad.

Kennedy pointed out that he did a fact check of Prasad’s analysis of his work and suggested Ball read it.

“I will take a look at it, but I don’t think that it’s fair to say nobody has ever pointed out anything that’s been wrong,” she said.

“People complain about what I say. Again, I’m not leading on this issue. So people can either take it or leave it, but if you want to — what you just said about me that I’m sort of hardheaded and stubborn and I just won’t give in, you’re wrong about that. If somebody shows me where I’m wrong, I’m gonna correct it,” Kennedy pushed back.

The full exchange can be found on the Breaking Point YouTube channel in which Ball and Kennedy continue to go back and fourth for several minutes on the issue.

Watch above via Breaking Points.

New: The Mediaite One-Sheet "Newsletter of Newsletters"
Your daily summary and analysis of what the many, many media newsletters are saying and reporting. Subscribe now!