Doctor Ben Carson blasted Donald Trump in an interview with the Washington Examiner for amateur medical commentary on vaccines during the second GOP presidential debate.
Carson, who is narrowing Trump’s lead in the Republican race for the White House, abandoned his usual practice of not criticizing other candidates, and said, “I hope he was listening to what I said and that there is no evidence of any relationship between vaccines and autism.”
And the retired neurosurgeon pointedly characterized scare stories of the type Trump told in the debate as an “emotional response based on inaccurate information.”
Carson’s new readiness to go on the attack comes at a time when he has surged into second place behind the billionaire businessman, who has stumbled in public appearances this week.
The new aggressiveness from Carson, who is fourth in the Washington Examiner‘s power rankings, is delivered in his characteristic calm and measured tones. But it contrasts sharply with his previous reticence. He has even apologized to Trump in the past, for comments he made about the sincerity of The Donald’s Christian faith..
During the second GOP presidential debate, Carson answered a question about vaccines by saying numerous studies “have not demonstrated that there is any correlation between vaccinations and autism.”
Then Trump weighed in with an answer that linked vaccinations and autism.
“I am totally in favor of vaccines, but I want smaller doses over a longer period of time,” Trump said at the debate. “Just the other day, two years old, two and a half years old, a child, a beautiful child went to have the vaccine, and came back, and a week later got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic.”
When asked to judge Trump’s “medical take” onstage, Carson laughed it off and called Trump an “OK doctor” before adding that, “there’s no autism associated with vaccinations.” In an interview with the Examiner, Carson rejected Trump’s medical advice without hesitation.
“I hope he was listening to what I said and that there is no evidence of any relationship between vaccines and autism,” Carson said about Trump. “What we need to understand is that in recent years we’ve broadened the definition of autism and have multiple segments of spectrum disease. And we’ve gotten much better at diagnosing it.”
“So if there’s any increase in it,” he added, “it’s simply because we’re better at identifying it and labeling it. Not because, say, there’s a true increase in the incidence. And there have been multiple studies done very objectively [by] people who were both pro- and con- and none of them have demonstrated any relationship between autism and vaccinations.”
“And so that needs to be made clear because 15 to 20 years ago there was a lot of misinformation out there and the information has not been widely disseminated about the studies that have been done and therefore a lot of people have this emotional response based on inaccurate information,” Carson concluded.
Carson also responded to Trump’s laudatory comments on a single-payer healthcare system during the first debate, which appeared to tack to the left of Obamacare, the president’s signature healthcare legislation.
“As far as single payer, it works in Canada. It works incredibly well in Scotland. It could have worked in a different age,” Trump said in the August debate. “What I’d like to see is a private system without the artificial lines around every state.”
Carson drew upon his own experiences to dismiss Trump’s evaluation, but added that the United States should seek to learn from how foreign nations administer medical coverage.
“Well I know that I’ve treated a lot of patients from Canada when they’ve had the money to come here. Wonder why they would do that if it was all that great,” Carson told the Examiner. “But the other thing you’ve got to keep in mind is they’ve got ten percent of the people that we have and a system that works for them is probably not going to be nearly as effective for us. We need to do what works for us.
“We can look at what happens in other places. We can be informed by that. We can look at Singapore, which has medical savings accounts for everyone and excellent healthcare and excellent access and it costs a fraction of what we cost. We can learn from that.”
Carson’s contemplative demeanor and status as an “outsider” have helped him skyrocket in recent polls. Headed into the GOP’s second presidential debate, Carson trailed only Trump in several national polls and appeared statistically tied with Trump in New Hampshire. Whether Carson can vaunt himself into the top spot outright may hinge on his ability to transform the momentum he has gained into unwavering support for his campaign.
