Vaccine forum canceled amid concerns over RFK Jr. appearance

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut lawmaker who supports eliminating the religious exemption from vaccinations for public school students says he had no choice but to cancel a planned forum on the science behind vaccines.

Democratic Rep. Josh Elliott of Hamden says he called off Tuesday’s planned event at the Legislative Office Building after most of the panel’s medical experts canceled.

Elliott says there was concern among the participants about including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental lawyer and vaccine skeptic, on the panel, saying it would be “legitimizing debunked and bogus claims” about vaccines.

Kennedy still appeared at a separate event organized by two Connecticut lawmakers who question vaccine safety. It drew a large crowd who oppose ending the religious exemption.

Kennedy says his late father taught him that “people in authority lie.”