Despite Donald Trump’s Health Secretary pick Robert F. Kennedy Jr. challenging the polio vaccine, the presidential pick is sticking beside the shot.
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The president-elect reaffirmed his support for the polio vaccine this week, even as Kennedy and his allies continue to scrutinize vaccines broadly. Trump addressed the controversy during a Mar-a-Lago news conference on Monday.
“I think everything should be looked at, but I’m a big believer in the polio vaccine,” he told reporters.
Trump, born nine years before the polio vaccine’s U.S. licensing, added earlier on “Meet the Press” that “The polio vaccine is the greatest thing.”
Other Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, strongly rejected challenges to the vaccine.
“Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed – they’re dangerous,” McConnell said Friday.
Kennedy, a former presidential candidate turned Trump backer, has faced backlash for his anti-vaccine stance and promotion of disproven claims, including a link between vaccines and autism. A lawyer associated with Kennedy, Aaron Siri, filed a 2022 petition urging the government to limit or withdraw approval for polio vaccines. The New York Times reported Friday on the petition from Siri, who has advised Kennedy on health official selections for Trump’s next administration.
Still, Trump continues to defend Kennedy as his pick to oversee agencies like the FDA.
“I think he’s going to be much less radical than you would think,” Trump said Monday. “But there are problems… And we’re going to find out what those problems are.”
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