President-elect Trump has reportedly asked Robert Kennedy Jr., a notable figure in the anti-vaxxer movement, to chair a commission under his administration that will focus on vaccine safety and scientific integrity, Kennedy said Tuesday.
Kennedy and Trump met at Trump Tower on Tuesday to discuss “vaccines and immunizations,” transition spokesman Sean Spicer had told reporters earlier in the day.
The son of the late U.S. senator from New York is a known believer in the unscientific conspiracy theory that mercury in vaccines causes autism, an issue he once compared to the holocaust.
“They get the shot, that night they have a fever of a hundred and three, they go to sleep and three months later their brain is gone,” Kennedy had told reporters at a movie screening in April 2015. “This is a holocaust, what this is doing to our country.”
Trump himself has previously expressed skepticism about vaccinations. Just over a year before launching his White House bid, the president-elect tweeted: “Healthy young child goes to doctor, gets pumped with massive shot of many vaccines, doesn’t feel good and changes – AUTISM. Many such cases!”
Healthy young child goes to doctor, gets pumped with massive shot of many vaccines, doesn’t feel good and changes – AUTISM. Many such cases!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 28, 2014
In a separate tweet around the same time, Trump appeared to urge state governments to stop requiring that parents vaccinate their children.
Now, Kennedy claims the president-elect has asked him to head a commission on the topic under his administration.
Trump also met with Andrew Wakefield, de facto founder of the anti-vaxxer movement, in late November.
