Short Summary: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s July 2023 comments that COVID-19 might be "ethnically targeted" led to claims he said the virus was designed to "spare" Jewish and Chinese people. He did not use the word "spare" and explicitly stated that it was unknown whether any observed differences were deliberately engineered. The 2020 study he cited noted population differences in ACE2/TMPRSS2 variants but did not conclude the virus was intentionally targeted; assertions about ethnically targeted bioweapons and labs collecting DNA are contested and lack verified evidence.
Fact Check: Did RFK Jr. Say COVID-19 Was Designed To 'Spare' Jewish And Chinese People?
Mike Kropf accessed via Getty Images.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s July 2023 remarks that COVID-19 may have been "ethnically targeted" sparked repeated online claims that he said the virus was designed to "spare" Jewish and Chinese people. Those claims are misleading without fuller context: Kennedy did discuss population differences and cited a 2020 genetic study, but he never used the word "spare" and explicitly said it was unknown whether any pattern was the result of deliberate engineering.
What Kennedy Said
At an event in July 2023, Kennedy said COVID-19 "attacks certain races disproportionately" and named Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people as among those who appeared to be less affected. He linked this observation to genetic differences in receptors such as ACE2 and referenced research and government programs that, he claimed, explore "ethnically targeted" bioweapons.
"There is an argument that [COVID-19] is ethnically targeted. COVID-19 attacks certain races disproportionately... COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese."
What He Did Not Say
Kennedy did not use the word "spare," and he directly stated, "We don't know if it was deliberately targeted or not." That distinction is central: his language was ambiguous and speculative rather than an explicit claim that the virus was engineered to spare particular ethnic groups.
The Study He Cited
Kennedy referenced a 2020 BMC Medicine paper analyzing ACE2 and TMPRSS2 variants across population datasets. That study reported differences in variant distributions and noted that Amish and Ashkenazi Jewish groups lacked certain ACE2 coding variants in the datasets examined. But the authors warned their analysis used general population genomic data (not COVID-19 patient cohorts) and urged caution: it did not conclude that SARS-CoV-2 was engineered to target or avoid specific ethnic groups.
Broader Claims And Evidence
Kennedy also alleged that the U.S. and China invest in ethnically targeted bioweapons and referenced "labs in Ukraine" as collecting DNA to enable such targeting. Those assertions align with long-running conspiracy narratives about biolabs and lack verifiable public evidence; independent fact-checkers and reporting have described such claims as contested or unproven.
Reactions
Jewish organizations including the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League condemned Kennedy's comments as offensive and dangerous. The White House and others criticized the remarks, and Kennedy publicly denied ever saying the virus was "targeted to spare Jews," calling such attributions misleading.
Conclusion
Because Kennedy's remarks mixed speculation about genetic susceptibility, references to a limited 2020 study, and broad allegations about bioweapon research — while explicitly acknowledging uncertainty — claims that he said COVID-19 was created to "spare" Jewish and Chinese people are misleading without context. The scientific paper he cited did not demonstrate intentional engineering, and there is no credible evidence that SARS-CoV-2 was deliberately designed to target or avoid particular ethnic groups.
Sources: Kennedy's public statements and post on X, the 2020 BMC Medicine ACE2/TMPRSS2 analysis, reporting and fact-checks from PolitiFact, CNN, Snopes, and contemporaneous news coverage of the July 2023 remarks and reactions.
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