President-elect Donald Trump said Monday he “doesn't like” mandatory vaccinations in schools and said “great people” are investigating whether vaccinations cause autism – vaccine skeptic. Robert F. Kennedy, the notoriously ambitious nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, is considering his nomination when he meets with senators.
President Trump, 78, addressed the controversial subject during a 70-minute press conference at his Mar-a-Lago club and residence in Palm Beach, Florida. At the same time, he sought to dispel concerns that Mr. Kennedy, a former Democrat who supported his candidacy for president, would say the following: If confirmed, there would be a move to halt the use of the vaccine.
“I think he's a lot less radical than you think,'' President Trump said at one point, “I think he's a very open-minded person, otherwise I'd put him out there.'' “He turned out to be very reasonable.'' “We would never lose the polio vaccine.''
However, in response to a direct question from a reporter, President Trump took an ambiguous stance, saying, “Do you think there is a link between vaccines and autism?''
“Well, I'm not,” Trump began his answer, before adding, “Look, there are some very smart people looking at it right now.”
“The other night, as you know, I had dinner with the head of Pfizer, the head of Eli Lilly, and the head of RFK. [Dr. Mehmet] In addition to Mr. Oz, 10 other members of the administration, including medical personnel, were involved and are under investigation,” Trump added.
“If you look at autism, 30 years ago we were hearing numbers of 1 in 200,000, 1 in 100,000, and now we're hearing numbers of 1 in 100. “Something is wrong, and we're going to look into it.''
“Do you want RFK Jr. to invalidate the vaccine?” a journalist asked.
“No, I want him to come back with a report. We're going to figure out a lot of things,” Trump said before bringing up pesticides as a possible cause of the health conditions.
“Europe doesn't use pesticides, but their mortality rates are still better than ours. They don't use pesticides. In fact, they use it as an excuse not to receive our produce. We're spending billions of dollars on pesticides, and something bad is happening. Again, if you look at autism now compared to 20, 25 years ago. , this is an unbelievable situation,” President Trump said.
“Then I'll report back. No, nothing will happen right away.”
A reporter asked, “Do you think vaccines should be mandatory for schools?”
“I don't like orders. I'm not a man with big mandates,” Trump said, referring specifically to his historic opposition to coronavirus vaccines.
State school systems, not the federal government, typically set vaccination requirements for students. the current, Required by all 50 states Measles, mumps and rubella vaccines for children from kindergarten to high school similarly For the polio vaccine, each state has extensive policies that allow for exemptions for medical, religious, or philosophical reasons.
In some cases, unvaccinated children have been identified as the cause. Local outbreaks of measles.
The theory that vaccines may be linked to autism is considered a conspiracy theory in the medical community due to a lack of scientific evidence.
President Kennedy's stance on vaccines has raised concerns from some Senate Republicans, who will hold a 53-47 majority next month, about whether he will secure enough votes to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. It's unclear.
“RFK is just as likely to be confirmed by the Senate as he is to be vaccinated,” a Senate Republican official quipped to the Post last month.
