After Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. radically revised the vaccines schedule for American children, public health officials were disgusted. Donald Trump, however, was delighted.
“This Schedule is rooted in the Gold Standard of Science,” the president claimed in a piece posted to his social media platform, despite the fact that changes do not appear rooted in any kind of science or evidence whatsoever.
Twelve minutes earlier, Trump had published some related thoughts on public health. His missive was an all-caps screed on which I’ve changed the capitalization to make it easier to read:
Pregnant women, don’t use Tylenol unless absolutely necessary, don’t give Tylenol to your young child for virtually any reason, break up the MMR shot into three totally separate shots (not mixed!), take Chicken P shot separately, take Hepatitas [sic] b shot at 12 years old, or older, and, importantly, take vaccine in 5 separate medical visits!
This comes months after Trump and RFK Jr. held a bizarre event at the White House where Trump said “don’t take Tylenol” 11 times, suggested physicians might be corrupt and, as part of a weird anti-vaccine screed, even declared, in reference to infant vaccinations, “It’s too much liquid.”
Paul Offit, a pediatrician and vaccine researcher at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told The Washington Post, “That was the most dangerously irresponsible press conference in the realm of public health in American history.”
This week, however, the president’s latest round of bizarre and baseless advice came just days after he also conceded that his MRI exam in October wasn’t actually an MRI exam and that he routinely ignores the advice of physicians on daily aspirin use, in part because he’s “superstitious” and in part because he wants “nice, thin blood pouring through my heart.” These three concurrent stories — Trump’s celebration of a misguided vaccine schedule, his foolish advice about Tylenol and his indifference to doctors’ recommendations about aspirin — are effectively different parts of the same story. Mr. “Inject Disinfectants” continues to believe that he (a man who’s reportedly avoided physical exercise because he believes the human body is born with a finite amount of energy) has the credibility and expertise needed to give Americans guidance on matters of public health. People would be wise to trust medical professionals instead.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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