Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has raised a troubling paradox about America’s COVID-19 response, one that public health officials have yet to confront. The numbers alone are staggering and demand an answer.
America’s Disproportionate Death Toll
The United States represents just 4.2% of the world’s population, yet it accounted for an estimated 17–18% of global COVID deaths. With a death rate of roughly 2,800 per million, America ranked among the top ten worst outcomes in the world.
This reality stands in sharp contrast to the nation’s wealth, medical infrastructure, and the sweeping resources poured into its pandemic response.
Nigeria: The Unexpected Outlier
Now consider Nigeria, a country public health leaders—including Tony Fauci and Bill Gates—warned would be “wiped out” by COVID-19. The reality? Nigeria reported a death rate of only 15 per million—about 1/1,500th the U.S. rate. And this occurred with a vaccination rate of just 1.5%.
While it is true that Nigeria has a younger population than the United States, demographic differences alone do not account for the enormous gap.
The Overlooked Hypothesis
Kennedy highlights a crucial factor largely ignored in mainstream discussion: the widespread use of repurposed drugs.
Nigeria bears some of the highest global burdens of malaria and river blindness, leading to mass use of drugs such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin. These medicines, dismissed or vilified in Western debates, are part of everyday life across much of Africa.
Is this the key to Nigeria’s strikingly low COVID mortality rate? Kennedy argues the evidence is strong enough to demand an honest investigation.
The West’s Militarized Response
Instead of exploring such questions, the United States pursued what Kennedy calls a “militarized and monetized” response, one that sidelined potential low-cost therapies in favor of a single-minded focus on vaccines. The result: one of the worst death rates in the world despite trillions in spending.
A Failure to Ask “Why”
The most damning critique is not simply that America fared poorly, but that its health authorities failed to ask why. Why did countries with far fewer resources and low vaccination rates escape mass death? Why were alternative approaches never seriously studied?
In Kennedy’s view, the refusal to confront these questions was not just a scientific failure—it was a moral one. And the world paid the price.
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