Head of New Federal COVID Vaccine Task Force Is a COVID Myth Superspreader

By NewsGuard:

 

"What happened: The head of a new federal task force charged with reviewing the safety of COVID-19 vaccines has spread multiple false claims about the vaccines, including in a X video with 2.5 million views where he said that the vaccines are responsible for an “unprecedented level of harm.”

 

Context: In June, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appointed Retsef Levi, an MIT operations management professor, to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory panel. Levi is now leading the panel’s new working group tasked with reviewing data to “help develop COVID-19 immunization policy options,” according to a document on the agency’s website.

 

A closer look: Levi, who does not have a medical degree, has a long record of spreading false claims about COVID vaccines.  [Contrary to Levi's posted claims above], Actually: Multiple studies published in peer-reviewed journals including The Lancet and the Journal of the American Medical Association have estimated that COVID vaccines saved millions of lives globally. The CDC has also told NewsGuard on multiple occasions, most recently in January 2025, that only nine deaths [in the U.S.] have been attributed to COVID vaccine side effects."

 

(more)

 

NewsGuard

https://www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/p/cdcs-new-vaccine-panel-head-is-a?open=false#§head-of-new-federal-covid-vaccine-task-force-is-a-covid-myth-superspreader

 

 

Re fact-checking service NewsGuard:

"NewsGuard combines human expertise and technology to provide data, analysis and journalism that helps enterprises and consumers identify reliable information online.

We are a strictly nonpartisan organization with investors and leadership from across the political spectrum."

 

Forum rules limit the amount of the OP article I can quote, but if you read the full article, you'll see a recap of what NewsGuard reported as Levi's other multiple past false claims regarding COVID vaccines, including:

 

--NewsGuard said Levi publicly posted that women who had received COVID vaccines had higher rates of miscarriages. According to NewsGuard, multiple studies have found that COVID vaccines do not increase the risk of miscarriages.

 

--NewsGuard said, in a published interview earlier this year, Levi said it was “very valid to argue” that COVID vaccines are “gene therapies.”  According to NewsGuard, vaccine experts and health agencies have long said that COVID vaccines cannot change a person’s DNA and thus cannot be considered gene therapy.

 

Ending their report above, NewsGuard said Levi did not respond to an email and phone message from NewsGuard asking about the claims mentioned above. NewsGuard said HHS’ press office also did not respond to an email and phone message from NewsGuard seeking comment from Kennedy.

 

The more people that speak up the better.

 

The dam wall crack is getting bigger.

One man's myth superspreader , is another man's truthsayer.

Believe who you want to believe .

Your body , your choice.

Nor is NewGuard the only fact-checking service to call out Levi's reported false claims regarding COVID vaccines. The following report below was posted by fact checking service Science Feedback:

 

Scientific evidence shows that COVID-19 mRNA vaccines are effective; their benefits outweigh their risks, contrary to claim by Retsef Levi

2023-02-09

 

 

"In early February 2023, claims that an MIT professor and “top expert” found evidence of serious harm from the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines and called for a halt to their use went viral on social media. These claims are based on a tweet by Retsef Levi, a professor at the Operations Management Group of the Sloan School of Management at MIT."

Verdict detail

"Inadequate support: In the study co-authored by Levi, the authors didn’t have information about the vaccination status of the people who’d developed heart problems. It’s impossible to reliably associate these heart problems with vaccination when it’s unknown whether these people were vaccinated in the first place.

...

Conclusion

In short, Levi’s claim that COVID-19 vaccines are responsible for deaths in young people is unsubstantiated. Although he did cite some studies as evidence, reading those studies in detail would show that none actually provide reliable evidence for his claim. His claim ignores other studies of higher quality showing that COVID-19 vaccination doesn’t increase the risk of death or heart attacks.

 

While COVID-19 vaccines are associated with a higher risk of myocarditis, this risk is higher in people who get COVID-19. Moreover, COVID-19 is associated with a host of health problems, of which heart problems are just one. By reducing the risk of infection and severe disease in people, COVID-19 vaccines offer many benefits that go beyond just preventing COVID-associated heart problems. As such, the vaccines’ benefit outweighs their risk."

 

(more)

 

Science Feedback

https://science.feedback.org/review/scientific-evidence-shows-covid-19-mrna-vaccines-effective-benefits-outweigh-risks-retsef-levi/

 

"Science Feedback is a publication verifying the credibility of influential information and media coverage that claims to be scientific in fields that are particularly prone to misunderstandings and misinformation such as climate change and health. It is operated by a not-for-profit organization."

 

 

Safe, effective, unnecessary and soon to be history.

Of course, it's hardly surprising that RFK Jr. picked a reported anti-vaxer, misinfo peddler like Levi to first serve on the CDC's key vaccines advisory panel (after RFK Jr. fired the entire panel of vetted professionals who had been serving on that group), and then took it a step further to tab him to head a working group of that advisory panel charged with reviewing the safety of vaccines.

 

Since becoming HHS secretary, RFK Jr. has been appointing various anti-vaxers and people with documented histories of spreading misinformation to various positions in HHS, both as political staff appointees and to serve on advisory panels.

 

Kennedy himself is illustrious in that regard, with NewsGuard having found Kennedy and the Children's Health Defense anti-vax group he headed before being named by Donald Trump as HHS secretary had made more than 100 provably false claims on health issues from 2018 to 2024. And he's certainly carrying over that tradition in his new role at HHS:

 

Introducing the RFK Jr. Healthcare Claims Depository

 

Overview

 

"This depository documents the provably false health-related claims promoted by Kennedy and his Children’s Health Defense anti-vaccine nonprofit."

 

NewsGuard

Nov. 11, 2024

 

"Since 2018, NewsGuard has tracked the health-related claims promoted by Kennedy and his Children’s Health Defense anti-vaccine nonprofit. What follows are the provably false claims he has promoted, assembled in what we call The RFK Jr. Healthcare Claims Depository.    

 

In all, NewsGuard has to date identified 110 provably false claims that have been advanced by Kennedy and Children’s Health Defense, involving topics from COVID-19 vaccines to bird flu to the safety of fluoride in drinking water."

 

https://www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/p/overview-748

 

 

 

15 minutes ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Of course, it's hardly surprising that RFK Jr. picked an anti-vaxer, misinfo peddler like Levi to first serve on the CDC's key vaccines advisory panel (after RFK Jr. fired the entire panel of vetted professionals who had been serving on that group), and then took it a step further to tab him to head a working group of that advisory panel charged with reviewing the safety of vaccines.

 

Since becoming HHS secretary, RFK Jr. has been appointing various anti-vaxers and people with documented histories of spreading misinformation to various positions in HHS, both as political appointees and to serve on advisory panels.

 

Kennedy himself is illustrious in that regard, with NewsGuard having found Kennedy and the Children's Health Defense anti-vax group he headed before being named by Donald Trump as HHS secretary had made more than 100 provably false claims on health issues from 2018 to 2024. And he's certainly carrying over that tradition in his new role at HHS:

 

Overview

This depository documents the provably false health-related claims promoted by Kennedy and his Children’s Health Defense anti-vaccine nonprofit.

 

NewsGuard 

Nov 11, 2024

 

John posts so much covid stuff, that I'm unsure if it is his own words or that of others.

 

If one has had the jab and is unsure about the 'safe' and 'effectiveness' of the covid jab may I suggest:

 

https://www.howbadismybatch.com

26 minutes ago, Stiddle Mump said:

Safe, effective, unnecessary and history.

 

Well, at least you got the first two correct:

 

"Multiple studies published in peer-reviewed journals including The Lancet and the Journal of the American Medical Association have estimated that COVID vaccines saved millions of lives globally. The CDC has also told NewsGuard on multiple occasions, most recently in January 2025, that only nine deaths [in the U.S.] have been attributed to COVID vaccine side effects."

 

https://www.newsguardrealitycheck.com/p/cdcs-new-vaccine-panel-head-is-a?open=false#§head-of-new-federal-covid-vaccine-task-force-is-a-covid-myth-superspreader

 

2 hours ago, Stiddle Mump said:

John posts so much covid stuff, that I'm unsure if it is his own words or that of others.

 

If one has had the jab and is unsure about the 'safe' and 'effectiveness' of the covid jab may I suggest:

 

https://www.howbadismybatch.com

 

The anti-vaxer website you predictably cite is based on vaccine batch data collected from public reports in a federal vaccines database called VAERS.

 

As many entities and the VAERS website itself note, the self-reported side effects data is not verified and can be submitted by anyone without regard to accuracy, meaning its data alone cannot and should not be used to draw conclusions.

 

As the VAERS website itself cautions:

 

Evaluating VAERS Data

 

"When evaluating data from VAERS, it is important to note that for any reported event, no cause-and-effect relationship has been established. Reports of all possible associations between vaccines and adverse events (possible side effects) are filed in VAERS. Therefore, VAERS collects data on any adverse event following vaccination, be it coincidental or truly caused by a vaccine. The report of an adverse event to VAERS is not documentation that a vaccine caused the event."  [emphasis added]

 

https://vaers.hhs.gov/data/dataguide.html

 

 

If said the truth about the covid clot-shots I'd have the posts removed.

 

So not 'safe', 'effective', or 'necessary' will have to do for now.

 

You can have mine next time round John.

 

13 hours ago, TallGuyJohninBKK said:

Since becoming HHS secretary, RFK Jr. has been appointing various anti-vaxers and people with documented histories of spreading misinformation to various positions in HHS, both as political staff appointees and to serve on advisory panels.

Nothing wrong with being an 'anti-vaxer' Sir.

 

As for 'spreading misinformation'. Well who says that? Only concerns with vested interests and the compromised. And, those that don't want the truth emerging because they are sipping at the gravy train.

 

Dr Suzy Humphries has done some in-depth research into vaccines. Well worth a read.

 

https://www.dissolvingillusions.com

 

An overview.

 

"It wasn’t long ago when infections plagued the Western world. Smallpox, scarlet fever, measles, typhoid, diphtheria, whooping cough, and other diseases were once considered a tragic part of life. Starting in the mid-1800s, there was a steady drop in the deaths from all these infectious diseases, decreasing by the mid-1900s to very low levels. The elimination of these diseases is one of the most amazing, yet unsung, public health revolutions in history. That journey from disease cesspool to our modern world is a tale of plagues and famine, crushing poverty and filth, lost cures, individual freedoms versus state might, protests and arrests, and much more." 

 

Mod's note: an unsourced and unsubstantiated claim has been removed, per the forum's rules.

 

The only vaccine I'm worried about losing is polio.  I remember the kids in leg braces, the sugar cubes that freed us from that fear. It does return, you know, without vaccination...Maybe if parents could decide individually if their children would be vaccinated for polio?

A reminder... This is the COVID subforum.  Members who wish to discuss non-COVID-related topics should do so elsewhere on the forum.