Trump Pushes RFK Jr. to Cut Childhood Vaccine Recommendations
President Trump pressured Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during a May lunch at Trump’s Virginia golf course to escalate efforts investigating a discredited link between vaccines and autism. Trump criticized Kennedy for having “the yips” on the vaccine issue, according to sources familiar with the conversation, despite White House political advisers urging Kennedy to downplay vaccine-related work ahead of midterm elections.
Trump’s central demand: accelerate efforts to reduce the number of vaccines in federal childhood immunization guidelines. According to sources, Trump stated his expectation that autism rates would decline following such reductions, even acknowledging the effect might take years to materialize. Trump previously ordered federal agencies to align with a January Department of Health and Human Services study proposing reduction of recommended childhood vaccines to only 11 diseases, eliminating vaccines for flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, and certain meningitis strains.
Kennedy, long known for vaccine skepticism, reportedly expressed surprise at Trump’s direct intervention, having been asked by White House political advisers to tone down vaccine-focused initiatives before the midterms. Trump, however, steers nearly every conversation with his health secretary back to vaccines and autism, according to sources. Trump’s nominee for U.S. surgeon general, Casey Means, declined to directly answer vaccine guidance questions during Senate testimony despite holding a medical degree, further signaling administration hostility toward established vaccination protocols.
The administration’s push contradicts decades of medical research showing no connection between vaccines and autism. Following Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s elimination of mandatory Pentagon flu vaccination requirements in April, a major flu outbreak sickened nearly 160 service members at an Air Force base within two months, demonstrating the real-world consequences of dismantling vaccination protections.
Trump’s intervention bypasses independent scientific evaluation of vaccine safety and efficacy. By directing his health secretary to prioritize a predetermined narrative about vaccines and autism, Trump has weaponized federal health policy to advance a disproven theory, subordinating public health to political ideology and personal conviction.
(Source: https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-rfk-jr-cut-vaccine-children-78582411?mod=hp_lead_pos7)