During Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s interview with Phil McGraw, better known as “Dr. Phil,” on Monday, an audience member asked him how Kennedy would advise new parents on vaccine safety. “We live in a democracy,” Kennedy said, “and part of the responsibility of being a parent is to do your own research. You research the baby stroller, you research the foods that they’re getting, and you need to research the medicines that they’re taking as well.”
Kennedy’s advice to “do your own research” sounds superficially reasonable. But in the context of his longtime opposition to vaccines and the milieu of misinformation in which anti-vaxxers operate, it is a misleading and irresponsible mantra.
“Is this stroller safe and well-built?” is not the same kind of question as “Is this vaccine safe and effective?”
It is true that making informed decisions is part of what it means to be a responsible member of a free society. That involves, at times, taking the time and effort to read up on an issue. To use Kennedy’s example, it makes sense for a new parent to look up consumer guides and online reviews when shopping for a stroller, to help ensure a baby’s safety and a convenient user experience. It is not hard for the average consumer to sift through this information and make a decision on which one to purchase.But “Is this stroller safe and well-built?” is not the same kind of question as “Is this vaccine safe and effective?” Laypeople cannot understand more technical information about vaccine ingredients, efficacy reports or safety assessments on their own, since understanding that information requires specialized knowledge and a broader contextual understanding of the diseases they guard against. Instead, people have to rely on expert intermediaries to interpret and explain that information for them.
The rub is who you consider an expert intermediary. In a high-trust society, which America was far closer to a couple decades ago, people rely on the counsel of physicians and medical and public health authorities. They listen to researchers whose work is peer-reviewed and who are affiliated with institutions requiring credentials, like universities. People who turn to these kinds of institutions will find that there is a consensus that vaccines are overwhelmingly safe and provide benefits that generally far outweigh the risks they pose to recipients. And people “doing their own research” can read information published by these institutions conveying that assessment at a level laypeople can understand.In other words “doing your own research” isn’t necessarily about always understanding an issue, which is simply impossible. It’s about demonstrating humility about what one can know and identifying credible sources.
But for people who are skeptical or opposed to vaccines like Kennedy, “doing your own research” is a cue to seek advice from activists and self-appointed experts who exist outside of institutions requiring credentials. These fringe organizations and networks push misinformation and uncorroborated claims about vaccine safety, and because they lack rigorous standards for evidence or entry into the debate, the information goes unchallenged within these spaces.








