If there is any single person I would trust less for medical advice than Robert F. Kennedy Jr., it would be Donald J. Trump.
Unfortunately, national healthcare policy is currently in the hands of these two oddballs and so we get periodic nutty pronouncements from the Oval Office that attempt to steer America toward quack doctors and snake oil salesmen.
The latest example is Trump’s toothless executive order that tells states they should separate childhood MMR vaccinations for measles, mumps and rubella and spread them over three visits to the doctor. Health experts warn that stretching out the administration of the vaccines would lengthen the time children are at risk of contracting one of the trio of nasty diseases.
Does Trump have a good reason for taking that risk? No, of course not. Kennedy has just been whispering crazy things in his ear. Yet, in his remarks at the signing of his executive order, the president yammered on with his trademark assortment of fabrications, lies and delusions.
Trump claimed the MMR vaccine could be “quite lethal.” That is about a million miles from being true. And concerns about the vaccine causing autism, RFK Jr.’s big fantasy, are also not backed by any sound scientific research.
“In many cases, we were requiring 72 jabs for our beautiful, healthy, lovely, delicate little children,” Trump claimed. In fact, our lovely children might receive about a third of that number of shots for disease prevention by the time they are 18.
Trump also said, “Large amounts of vaccine, large amounts of, like, vats of vaccine are currently pumped into your child’s body.” Sorry, Mr. President, but the less than 0.5 milliliters that constitute a typical shot are a tiny drop in the vat.
If only we had a vaccine for stupidity, I know who needs to get it first.
