Citavo interview
Several internet users noticed a conversation excerpt in which R.F. Kennedy talks about several viruses and Lyme disease, claiming they originated from research laboratories.
“RFK Jr. stated on national television that ‘gain-of-function’ research is responsible for the majority of pandemics and epidemics!!
COVID-19, Lyme disease, and RSV – one of the leading causes of child mortality.
Did you hear what he just said?
Globally, RSV causes about 100,000 deaths annually just among children under 5 years old (the speech here and further in quotes is unedited – editor’s note),” said one man.
“RFK Jr. just revealed on Fox News that Lyme disease, RSV, and COVID-19 are products of ‘gain-of-function’ research.
Gain-of-function research is responsible for millions of deaths worldwide.
RFK Jr. announced that the United States will no longer allow these dangerous experiments, and doctors and organizations supporting them will face serious consequences.
Hopefully, other countries around the world will make similar decisions,” wrote another internet user.
What are these studies?
Gain-of-function research involves manipulating the structure of a microorganism in the laboratory so scientists can study how it changes during evolution. Such research includes potentially risky experiments where a virus or other pathogen becomes more dangerous or more easily transmissible to humans.
R.F. Kennedy Jr. appeared on CNN on Sunday, where he made false claims about the origins of Lyme disease and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), the COVID-19 pandemic, autism, vaccines, and more.
During the interview, R.F. Kennedy explained that RSV was artificially created by scientists conducting gain-of-function research. According to him, this research is responsible not only for the virus that caused COVID-19 but also for other diseases.
“It is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic – and many other global pandemics we have experienced – originated from gain-of-function research. The RSV epidemic, which today is the leading cause of child mortality in this country, originated from such experiments. Lyme disease almost certainly also originated from such research,” he stated during the show.
R.F. Kennedy has spread unfounded claims about the laboratory origin of RSV, Lyme disease, and other infectious diseases long before becoming health secretary.
Also read: Found the ‘scandal of the century’: are children really vaccinated with 72 untested vaccines?
Also read: Does COVID-19 affect certain races and ethnicities more: digging up old lies from the archives
Respiratory syncytial virus
R.F. Kennedy falsely claims that RSV originated from laboratory research. As CNN noted, RSV was first identified in the late 1950s – in both laboratory chimpanzees and children. What later became known as gain-of-function research began two decades later when scientists first managed to combine genes from different organisms.
The Guardian notes that such an assumption by R.F. Kennedy is contradicted by decades of accumulated scientific evidence showing the natural origin of the virus.
“RFK’s claims that RSV and Lyme disease originated from gain-of-function research are undoubtedly false,” said Dr. Ferric Fang, a physician and microbiologist at the University of Washington School of Medicine, to the factcheck.org portal.
According to him, RSV is related to a bovine virus: the evolutionary paths of human and bovine virus versions diverged about 450 years ago. He explained that genetic evidence also shows that the human RSV virus split into two main subgroups about 250 years ago and later further branched into additional subtypes.
“By understanding the virus’s evolutionary history and seeing intermediate stages, you can realize it arose naturally, not as a human-made creation,” said F. Fang. He also pointed out that archived human tissue samples show signs of RSV infection dating back to 1931.
Read more Another heat record in Slovakia: temperature rises for the second day in a row
Lyme disease
R.F. Kennedy has spoken multiple times about the artificial origin of Lyme disease. In 2024, he claimed on his podcast that Lyme disease was “very likely” created as a biological weapon, although he later said he never believed that.
Also read: Lyme disease created as a biological weapon? R.F. Kennedy undecided whether he supports this conspiracy theory
But claims that Lyme disease was created as a military biological weapon and escaped from a government laboratory are completely refuted by decades of accumulated scientific evidence.
F. Fang noted that the bacteria transmitted by ticks that cause Lyme disease have an “ancient” origin, “although human Lyme disease was not recognized until the 1970s.”
A 2012 study found traces of this bacterium in the remains of a 5,300-year-old Tyrolean glacier man. He also pointed to genomic studies conducted on bacteria from ticks collected between 1984 and 2013, which show that the microorganisms causing Lyme disease have existed in North America for about 60,000 years.
“The history of the bacteria causing Lyme disease clearly shows it did not originate in a laboratory,” emphasized the microbiologist.
Scientists who have studied this disease for decades also state that R.F. Kennedy’s theory has no factual basis.
COVID-19
Until now, there have been two main theories about the origin of COVID-19 in both the scientific community and politics. The first is natural evolution, the second is a laboratory leak. However, we may never know the true origin.
There is no conclusive evidence about how COVID-19 emerged, but a lot of scientific data indicates a natural origin rather than a laboratory leak. Scientists are almost certain that the coronavirus could not have been artificially created. Moreover, almost all U.S. intelligence agencies agree that the virus was not genetically modified.
However, more than a year ago, the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump replaced major websites providing the latest information about COVID-19 with a controversial statement about the alleged “true origin of the virus,” supporting the theory that the virus leaked from a laboratory. Many scientists criticized this move by the administration.
Also read: Internet users interested in the White House statement about the origin of COVID-19: can it be trusted?
The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Scientific Advisory Group for Origins of Novel Pathogens (SAGO) published a report on the origin of COVID-19 in 2025 after extensive research.
According to it, available evidence shows that the disease spread from animals – either directly from bats or through an intermediate animal.
Nevertheless, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus acknowledged that “currently no hypothesis, including zoonotic transmission and laboratory leak, can be ruled out.”
The initial joint WHO-China report published in March 2021 concluded that the virus most likely passed from bats to humans through some intermediate animal.
According to a SAGO representative, laboratory leak theories “cannot be investigated or ruled out” because much of the necessary information was not provided to researchers.
15min verdict: partly false. R.F. Kennedy did link the origin of viruses to laboratory research, but such statements are false. The bacteria causing Lyme disease and RSV have long posed a threat to humans. There is no evidence that they originated in a laboratory, let alone during gain-of-function research. According to scientists and responsible institutions, COVID-19 most likely spread from animals rather than leaked from a laboratory.
This publication was prepared by 15min in cooperation with Meta, aiming to stop the spread of misleading news on social media. More about the program and its rules – here.
Read more Prime Minister to top scorers: be open to the world, but remember that home is Lithuania
