Trump says he will have ‘big discussion’ about ending childhood vaccination programme, could scrap some vaccines

WASHINGTON - US President-elect Donald Trump said in an interview on Dec 12 that he will have a “big discussion” about ending childhood vaccination programmes with Mr Robert F. Kennedy Jr, his

nominee to run the Department of Health and Human Services

(HHS), and might scrap some vaccines.

When asked if his administration could get rid of some vaccines, Trump said: “It could if I think it’s dangerous, if I think they are not beneficial, but I don’t think it’s going to be very controversial in the end.”

“We're going to have a big discussion. The autism rate is at a level that nobody ever believed possible. If you look at things that are happening, there's something causing it,” Trump told Time magazine.

Asked if he thinks childhood autism is linked to vaccines, Trump said: “No, I'm going to be listening to Bobby,” referring to Mr Kennedy.

Trump said he had a lot of respect for Mr Kennedy and his views on vaccinations.

Trump has suggested in the past that vaccines might be linked to autism.

When asked on Dec 12 if he agreed with Mr Kennedy on a 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 going all out, we're going to know what's good and what's not good," Trump said.

Mr Kennedy, who opposed state and federal Covid-19 restrictions and was accused of spreading misinformation about the virus, has sown doubts over the safety and efficacy of vaccines for years, including asserting a link between vaccines and autism.

Many of the claims that vaccines cause autism can be traced back to a retracted 1998 study published in medical journal The Lancet.

The paper, written by British doctor Andrew Wakefield, has been widely discredited.

Research, including a 2014 meta-analysis of studies involving more than 1.2 million children, found no association between vaccines and autism.

Autism advocacy group Autism Speaks says it “remains aligned with the scientific consensus, which confirms that vaccines do not cause autism”.

Former US Food and Drug Administration commissioner and current Pfizer board member Scott Gottlieb has said if Mr Kennedy follows through on his intentions to end vaccine mandates, “it will cost lives in this country”.

He said lower vaccination rates could lead to large outbreaks of once nearly eradicated diseases like measles.

“For every 1,000 cases of measles that occur in children, there will be one death. And we are not good in this country at diagnosing and treating measles,” Mr Gottlieb told CNBC in November.

Mr Kennedy disputes the anti-vaccine tag, but chaired the Children’s Health Defence, a non-profit organisation that focuses on anti-vaccine messaging.

"He (Kennedy) does not disagree with vaccinations, all vaccinations. He disagrees probably with some," Trump said.

If he is confirmed to run HHS, Mr Kennedy would oversee the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, which controls what vaccines are recommended for Americans and when they should receive them. It also runs the Vaccines for Children programme that provides free vaccines for some children.

The remarks are in line with a comment Trump made in an interview with Meet The Press on Dec 8 in which he said that the potential risks from vaccines should be studied.

“I think vaccines are – certain vaccines – are incredible. But maybe some aren’t. And if they aren’t, we have to find out,” he said.

During a presidential debate in his 2016 White House campaign, Trump said he was “totally in favour of vaccines”, but added: “Do them over a longer period of time, same amount, but just in little sections. And I think you’re going to have, I think you’re going to see a big impact on autism.” REUTERS