6 November 21-27, 2024 miaminewtimes.com | browardpalmbeach.com New Times | music | cafe | culture | Night+Day | news | letters | coNteNts | DERANGED BEDFELLOWS? Miami anti-vax power couple cheers RFK Jr.’s nomination for HHS secretary. BY NAOMI FEINSTEIN O n Thursday, once and future president Donald Trump announced his pick for secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS): conspiracy theorist and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In a post on Truth Social, the platform he owns, Trump said Kennedy will restore HHS agencies “to the traditions of gold standard sci- entific research, and beacons of transparency, to the end of the chronic disease epidemic, and to make America great and healthy again!” As the nation worries about the return of highly contagious diseases when Kennedy takes the health-policy helm, one prominent Miami couple is thrilled by the news: tech entrepreneur David Centner and his wife Leila, founders of Centner Academy in Mid- town Miami, who made national headlines in 2021 when they told teachers at the private school that bears their name that they’d risk losing their jobs if they chose to get the CO- VID-19 vaccine. In a post-Election Day Instagram post headlined “Make America Healthy Again!!” David Centner wrote that he was “delighted for our country’s future” because Trump had promised RFK Jr. “control” of public health agencies if he won. “As a Bobby Kennedy supporter from Day One, I’m thrilled at the opportunity for the un- winding of the massive corruption at the CDC, FDA, USDA, and so on,” Centner enthused alongside a video of himself, clad only in shorts and training shoes, performing “24 clean chin- ups” in front of a mirror in what appears to be a home gym. “I’ve believed for a long time that this sophisticated corruption, developed and evolved over the past 30 years, is the root cause of so many of our issues. It’s going to be a fun four years watching this unfold!” The Centners, who’ve spent millions of dollars in support of Republican causes across the nation since opening their school in 2019, accumulated their fortune after sell- ing their toll-collection tech company High- way Toll Administration LLC in 2018 for an undisclosed amount. (Among the largesse: more than $43,000 to expelled New York U.S Rep. George Santos’ campaign, plus a fund- raiser for Santos at their Long Island estate.) Centner Academy, which has earned a rep- utation as the school for wealthy parents who are skeptical of vaccines, reserves a page on its website for “Our Vaccine Policy,” which states, “We believe in health freedom. We recognize that every child and family is unique, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach to vaccines. We follow the Florida law and allow our par- ents to complete a medical or religious ex- emption form to opt out of the Florida school vaccination program.... We are here to support you in any way we can.” What the school does not support: “the mainstream COVID narrative, critical race theory, and gender fluidity.” In 2021, Leila Centner, who’d frequently shared anti-vaccine misinformation on her Facebook page, made headlines across the country when she spread false claims to teachers, warning about “reports... of non- vaccinated people being negatively impacted by interacting with people who have been vaccinated.” The academy is now comprised of a pre- school, an elementary school, and a middle and high school, all at separate locations. In January 2021, long before Kennedy mounted his quixotic presidential campaign, the couple hosted him at their academy, where he expressed his anti-vaccine views in two separate speeches. Kennedy and David Centner also worked together on an hourlong anti-vaccine film that likened the COVID-19 vaccine rollout to the notorious and racist Tuskegee Syphilis Study. Medical experts de- cried the film as an attempt to spread vaccine misinformation, particularly in the Black community. More recently, the couple donated $1 mil- lion to Kennedy’s 2024 presidential campaign. In addition to their private school, the couple founded Centner Wellness, a spa of sorts that promises (among other services) “bio-optimization through detoxification, cellular regeneration, enhanced neurocogni- tive function, stress reduction, and decreased inflammation — everything you need to feel whole again.” Unrelated to their anti-vaccine beliefs, the Centners were back in the headlines in 2023 when they were at the center of an alleged bribery scheme involving former City of Mi- ami commissioner Alex Díaz de la Portilla. State prosecutors say the Centners fun- neled money through lobbyist William Riley Jr. to Díaz de la Portilla to ensure the city would approve the couple’s plan to develop a city-owned park in downtown Miami into a $10 million sports complex for their school. The Centners, who denied any wrongdo- ing, testified in the case and, as a result, were granted immunity from prosecution. They have not been charged with any crimes. [email protected] “Make America Healthy Again,” anti-vaxxer and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. superfan David Centner proclaims following Donald Trump’s victory. Screenshot via Instagram/@david_centner | METRO | “IT’S GOING TO BE A FUN FOUR YEARS WATCHING THIS UNFOLD!”
