Donald Trump transition team co-chair Howard Lutnick questioned the safety of vaccines while speaking with CNN‘s Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday night.
“Vaccines are safe,” Collins said, while talking about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.‘s self-reported possibility of being “promised” by the former president to head the Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture if Trump wins the 2024 election.
“Why do you think vaccines are safe,” Lutnick shot back, adding, “there’s no product liability anymore.” Collins responded, “Because they’re proven … kids get them and they’re fine,” prompting Lutnick to ask, “why do you think they’re fine?”
According to CNN, Kennedy said during a livestream event on Monday that what Trump “has promised me is—is control of the public health agencies, which are HHS and its subagencies, CDC, FDA, NIH and a few others, and then also the USDA, which is—which, you know, is key to making America healthy.”
Lutnick also claimed that both he and Collins “know so many more people” now that have autism versus when they were younger. Collins quickly asserted that “vaccines don’t cause autism,” pointing to Kennedy also peddling that falsehood, “which is why people are concerned that he could get a job like HHS.”
Kennedy, who suspended his independent presidential campaign in August before endorsing Trump, is founder of the Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine nonprofit that has campaigned against immunizations and other public health measures, such as the use of fluoride in public water supplies.
The Trump campaign has not confirmed Kennedy’s statement about being promised a role in the former president’s potential administration. Trump did say at a rally on Sunday in New York City, however, that he would let Kennedy “go wild on the medicine” if he wins next week.
“Robert F. Kennedy cares more about human beings and health and the environment than anybody,” Trump said in part. “Having him is such a great honor … I’m going to let him go wild on health, I’m going to let him go wild on, I’m going to let him go wild on the medicine.”
Newsweek reached out to Trump’s campaign via email for comment late Wednesday.
Health experts have raised concerns about the impact Kennedy could have if granted a seat under Trump’s administration. During a conference for the American Public Health Association on Monday, Trump’s former surgeon general, Dr. Jerome Adams, said he was worried about how Kennedy’s influence on Trump’s potential second term could impact the “nation’s health.”
“If RFK has a significant influence on the next administration, that could further erode people’s willingness to get up to date with recommended vaccines, and I am worried about the impact that could have on our nation’s health, on our nation’s economy, on our global security,” Adams said at the event in Minneapolis, according to Sheryl Stolberg of The New York Times.
Update 10/30/24, 11:10 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information and background.