With a day left for the US Presidential Elections, Republican candidate Donald Trump said he was not ruling out banning vaccines if elected to power. He added that he is also open to some of the controversial ideas propagated by anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr, who Trump said will play a "big role in the administration".
When asked by NBC News whether he would ban certain vaccines, Trump said: "Well, I’m going to talk to [Kennedy] and talk to other people, and I’ll make a decision, but he’s a very talented guy and has strong views."
Kennedy, the scion of America’s most famous political family, had peddled many unsubstituted claims, including linking vaccines to autism and removal of fluoride from water supplies. One of America's top vaccine critics, Kennedy, who ran for president as an independent this year before dropping his bid and endorsing Trump, has expressed scepticism about "unsafe vaccines" during COVID but later toned down his rhetoric after his views came at odds with most Americans.
He has also promised to removal of fluoride from water supplies, a move that Trump has endorsed. On Kennedy's stance on the removal of fluoride from water supplies, Trump said:"Well, I haven’t talked to him about it yet, but it sounds OK to me. You know, it’s possible."
Kennedy put up a post on X, stating that the FDA's war on public health was about to end. "This includes its aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything else that advances human health and can’t be patented by Pharma," his post read.
Kennedy has also said that he believes that vaccines have been given undue credit for eradicating infectious diseases when sanitation and nutrition played a larger role.
Meanwhile, Kamala Harris has rejected Trump's statement that "Kennedy could play a big role in the administration", stating that he is "the exact last person in America who should be setting healthcare policy for America’s families and children".
