The way we can know this is a coordinated corporate media propaganda campaign is a) how quickly the hit pieces emerged following the announcement, suggesting they were pre-written, and b) the through-lines between them, suggesting talking points handed down from on high.
Related: Did Populist Rage at Big Pharma Fuel Trump Victory? Election Data Indicates Maybe
Virtually without fail, they begin with the typical “anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist” smear before moving on to quote some NGO. They prefer quoting NGOs because they lend a veneer of legitimacy and neutrality as opposed to the clearly interested parties that sponsor said NGOs, the industry actors themselves. Then they throw in a quote from some obscure professor, also probably indirectly on the industry payroll via grants.
None of this is “news.” This is industry public relations disguised as news, aided and abetted by the legacy media that profits handsomely off of pharma advertising.
It’s a filthy game, folks, but this is why being media-literate, as most of this audience is, serves as an inoculation to the propaganda.
Via The Guardian (emphasis added):
Donald Trump’s nomination of Robert F Kennedy Jr as US secretary of health and human services has prompted widespread criticisms towards Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist who has embraced a slew of other debunked health-related conspiracy theories…
In response to Kennedy’s nomination, Public Citizen, a progressive nonprofit organization focusing on consumer advocacy, said: “Robert F Kennedy Jr is a clear and present danger to the nation’s health. He shouldn’t be allowed in the building at the department of health and human services (HHS), let alone be placed in charge of the nation’s public health agency.”…
Apu Akkad, an infectious disease physician at the University of Southern California, called the announcement a “scary day for public health”.
Related: RFK Jr. Threatens War on FDA in Epic Tweet
Meanwhile, reading between the lines, the real terror is not for the nation’s health but the pharmaceutical industry that has run U.S. state policy on all things health for many long decades, going on a century.
Via CNN (emphasis added):
Shares of prominent vaccine makers plunged Thursday after President-elect Donald Trump announced his pick of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to be the next secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
An hour before the market closed Thursday, as news reports of Trump’s choice began trickling out, Covid-19 vaccine maker Moderna dipped as much as 6%, and Pfizer fell almost 2%. Novavax, which created a protein-based Covid-19 vaccine, fell almost 6%.
Kennedy has been one of the country’s most prominent anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists for years and has frequently spread falsehoods about the safety and efficacy of vaccines. Last week, Kennedy said he would “immediately” begin studying vaccine safety and efficacy but promised to not “take vaccines away from anybody.”
Other vaccine-related companies also felt the fallout. German company BioNTech closed 7% lower, and British GSK fell 2%. US vaccine companies have already been struggling, thanks to lessened demand since the peak of the pandemic. Over the past year, Pfizer stock has dipped 11%, and Moderna stock has plunged 46%.
Here, I’d like to reiterate my personal view that if these Big Pharma executives escape a Trump presidency with just fallen stock prices as a consequence for decades of malfeasance, Trump will have failed to do his job properly.
There must be speedy and merciless prosecutions of these people; examples must be made; heads (proverbially speaking) must roll.
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