Jake Tapper Rips RFK Jr.'s Offer to Hold a Vax Mandate Debate: 'Truly Embarrassing'

The lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines, which have proven safe and effective at minimizing the spread and severity of a virus that's killed over 800 thousand Americans, remain the subject of right-wing disinformation and conspiracy theories.

From the halls of Congress to the dark corners of the internet, far-right personalities have insisted the vaccines are unnecessary or dangerous, or even that they're magnetized or microchipped or a manifestation of the biblical "mark of the beast."

Among the most prominent anti-vaxxers is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the lawyer son of the late U.S. Senator.

Kennedy has been against vaccines since 2005, often repeating the long-debunked claim that vaccines cause autism, so it comes as no surprise that he's been against COVID-19 vaccines since they first materialized. He's falsely insisted that the vaccines are secret medical experiments on Black Americans. He was banned from Instagram earlier this year for his deranged disinformation regarding the vaccines.

But like so many of his ideological counterparts, Kennedy is so certain that his vaccine fantasies are correct, he's challenged CNN anchor Jake Tapper to debate him on the legitimacy of the vaccines.

If Tapper were to agree to the debate, it would all but certainly grant Kennedy a platform to further spew his vaccine nonsense—an effort that runs in direct opposition with Tapper's obligations as a journalist.

Tapper noted this as he called Kennedy's effort "Truly embarrassing."

Tapper also shared a May 2019 article from Kennedy's siblings, denouncing his anti-vaccine stance months before the first case of COVID-19 reached American shores.

Social media users supported Tapper's answer.

They joined him in slamming Kennedy's absurdities.

Looks like Kennedy will have to settle for shouting into the void.