US President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview Thursday that he would have a “big discussion” about ending the childhood vaccination program, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his nominee to run the Department of Health and Human Services, and that some could be repealed. medicine
When asked if his administration could eliminate some vaccines: “If I think it’s dangerous, if I think they’re not beneficial, but I don’t think it’s going to be very controversial in the end,” Trump said.
“We’re going to have a big discussion. The autism rate is at a level that no one has ever believed. If you look at what’s going on, there’s a reason,” Trump said. the time Magazine. Asked if childhood autism was linked to vaccines, Trump said: “No, I’m listening to Bobby,” referring to Kennedy. Trump said he had great respect for Kennedy and his views on vaccines.
Trump has suggested in the past that vaccines may be linked to autism.
Asked Thursday if he agreed with Kennedy on the link between vaccines and autism, he said, “I want to see the numbers. “At the end of the studies that we’re doing, and we’re all going out, we’re going to know what’s good and what’s not good,” Trump said.
Kennedy, who has opposed state and federal COVID-19 restrictions and has been accused of spreading misinformation about the virus, has sown doubts about the safety and effectiveness of vaccines for years by drawing a link between vaccines and autism.
Many of the claims that vaccines cause autism can be traced back to a 1998 study published in the medical journal The Lancet. The letter written by British doctor Andrew Wakefield has been widely discredited. Kennedy disputed the anti-vaccine tag, but chaired Child Health Defense, a nonprofit organization that focuses on anti-vaccine messaging.
“He (Kennedy) doesn’t disagree with vaccines, all vaccines. He probably disagrees with some,” Trump said.
During a presidential debate on his 2016 White House campaign, Trump said he was “absolutely in favor of vaccines,” but added: “Do them for a long time, in equal amounts, but in smaller segments. And I think you’ll have, I think You’ll see a big effect on autism.”
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