Democratic presidential hopeful Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is facing condemnation for his claim about COVID-19.
On Monday, Kerry Kennedy, the president of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, joined the chorus of those speaking out about her brother’s comments.
In a statement, she said, “I strongly condemn my brother’s deplorable and untruthful remarks last week about Covid being engineered for ethnic targeting. His statements do not represent what I believe or what Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights stand for, with our 50+-year track record of protecting rights and standing against racism and all forms of discrimination.”
I STRONGLY condemn my brother's deplorable and untruthful remarks last week about Covid being engineered for ethnic targeting. https://t.co/9YCag7JtHm
— Kerry Kennedy (@KerryKennedyRFK) July 17, 2023
On Saturday, the New York Post reported on a recent dinner in which Robert F. Kennedy Jr. suggested the coronavirus may have been designed to target specific ethnic groups.
“There is an argument that it is ethnically targeted. COVID-19 attacks certain races disproportionately,” he claimed.
He went on:
“COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese. We don’t know whether it was deliberately targeted or not but there are papers out there that show the racial or ethnic differential and impact.”
In a tweet on Saturday, Kennedy shared a link to an article he claimed showed “ethnic Chinese, Finns and Ashkenazi Jews” were less susceptible to the virus.
However, the scientists behind the study told CBS News their work “never supported” what he claimed and insisted, “This type of misinterpretation will hurt academic research to help us end pandemic.”
The presidential hopeful later denied he was suggesting the virus was meant to target specific groups.
“Nobody has suggested that these were deliberately engineered changes and I certainly don’t believe that they were deliberately engineered,” he said in a video statement.
Still, he argued the virus was “kind of a proof of concept that you can develop bioweapons that will attack certain ethnicities.”
Kennedy’s relatives have previously spoken out about his comments undermining trust in vaccines.