RFK's denial of germ theory is nothing new to most of us. Mainstream media's apparent disinterest in the fact that RFK's science is taken from the 19th century is probably due to the fact that he is deliberately coy about it.
It appears that only Beth Mole (a reporter with a PhD in microbiology) decided to write about RFK Jr.’s rejection of germ theory debunked in Senate hearing. Well worth a read, but here are some highlights:
"Kennedy wrote about his germ theory denialism explicitly in his 2021 book The Real Anthony Fauci. In it, Kennedy maligns germ theory as a tool of pharmaceutical companies, scientists, and doctors to promote the use of modern medicines. Instead of accepting germ theory, Kennedy promotes a concept akin to the discarded terrain theory, in which diseases stem not from germs, but from imbalances in the body’s inner 'terrain.' ... As Kennedy describes in his book, his preferred theory 'emphasizes preventing disease by fortifying the immune system through nutrition and by reducing exposures to environmental toxins and stresses,'—not using vaccines or advanced medicines to fight off specific pathogens as suggested by germ theory."
A quote from his book: "A doctrinal canon of the germ theory credits vaccines for the dramatic declines of infectious disease mortalities in North America and Europe during the twentieth century. … Most Americans accept this claim as dogma. It will therefore come as a surprise to learn that it is simply untrue."
The interesting part is when the Senators called out this BS:
[Sen. Bernie] Sanders pointed out a 2024 study led by the World Health Organization and published in The Lancet that found that since 1974, vaccines had saved an estimated 154 million lives, including 146 million children under the age of 5—or, as WHO put it, vaccines saved the equivalent of six lives every minute of every year over the past 50 years.
“My question is a simple one,” Sanders said, “do you still believe that one of the central tenets of the germ theory, that vaccines sharply reduce infant mortality, is quote-unquote simply untrue?”
Kennedy responded first by trying to discredit the WHO study, noting that it was based on modeling. Using a common tactic of anti-vaccine advocates, he instead redirected to one of his preferred, cherry-picked studies, which was a 2000 study in the journal Pediatrics with lead author Bernard Guyer. The study, “Annual Summary of Vital Statistics: Trends in the Health of Americans During the 20th Century,” also included estimates and algorithms in its analysis.
But, as [Sen. Bill] Cassidy noted during the hearing, it’s not all that the study found. Cassidy looked up the studies Kennedy raised and read through them during the hearing. The Guyer study highlighted that vaccination did not become widely used until after the middle of the century, thus it cannot account for mortality declines prior to that. But it concluded, as Cassidy read out loud at the hearing:
The reductions in vaccine-preventable diseases, however, are impressive. In the early 1920s, diphtheria accounted for about 175,000 cases annually and pertussis for nearly 150,000 cases; measles accounted for about half a million annual cases before the introduction of vaccine in the 1960s. Deaths from these diseases have been virtually eliminated, as have deaths from Haemophilus influenzae, tetanus, and poliomyelitis.
RFK. Cherry-picking from cherry-picked studies. If you're interested in a deep dive on RFK's shenanigans, the blog Respectful Insolence has been documenting it for over 20 years.