RFK Jr.'s anti-vaccine group lost $3 million last year

Source: NBC News

Nov. 13, 2024, 5:33 PM EST


After years of financial growth, Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine nonprofit group founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., recorded a more than 30% drop in revenue last year, to $16 million, according to recent tax filings.

The pandemic boosted the profiles and pocketbooks of anti-vaccine organizations and activists, but none more than Children’s Health Defense and Kennedy. The nonprofit doubled its revenue in 2020 to $6.8 million, then grew again to $16 million in 2021 and $23.5 million in 2022. Last year was the first substantial loss in the organization’s history, of about $3 million, driven by a reduction in contributions, according to the filings.

Children’s Health Defense, which describes itself as a “child health protection and advocacy group,” provided its tax filings to NBC News. Neither Children’s Health Defense nor Kennedy, who could take on a public health role in President-elect Donald Trump’s new administration, responded to a request for comment.

Amid unfounded fears over vaccines during the pandemic, Children’s Health Defense expanded its reach beyond the parents of small children and grew beyond its website, which for years had been a hub for health misinformation. Along with growing chapters across the U.S., Canada and Europe, it now boasts an online TV network, a book publishing house and a movie studio. The decline in revenue coincides with one notable change within the group last year: the absence of its most prominent advocate.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/rfk-jr-childrens-health-defense-tax-revenue-loss-rcna179934