Erin Burnett debunks Trump’s childhood vaccine claim

[0:00] Trump upending vaccines for American children. [0:03] Here's what he's announcing tonight. [0:05] He's signing an executive order that says that core, crucial vaccines, [0:09] including for hepatitis, are no longer recommended for children, [0:13] setting America back and putting lives at risk. [0:15] And it seems all because of a false belief that vaccines are tied to autism. [0:22] Decades ago, children received only a small fraction of the vaccines [0:26] required today in those times. [0:28] People were much healthier, and of course, the high rates of autism now observed did not exist. [0:36] So there's a reason for such epidemic rates of autism. [0:43] Well, there may be a reason, but it's not vaccines. [0:45] Independent researchers have conducted more than 40 studies involving over 5.6 million people, [0:51] and the conclusion again and again and again is that there is no link. [0:55] The facts and the science on this particular issue when it comes to vaccines are clear, [0:59] as Republican Senator Bill Cassidy posted, [1:02] I'm a doctor. [1:03] This executive order is wrong. [1:05] Autism and vaccines aren't linked. [1:07] And yet, the chief science officer for the Autism Science Foundation came out and spoke. [1:12] The quote there, vaccines have 1,000% been exonerated. [1:16] And yet, here is President Trump today. [1:20] I saw this early on, and I've seen proof of it, [1:23] where they have a vaccination that looks like the size of a bottle of soda poured into a little child's body. [1:33] Now, that's nonsense. [1:35] All of us parents know that. [1:37] A vaccination that's the size of a soda bottle? [1:39] A soda bottle? [1:40] I mean, that's a lot. [1:41] That's silly and insane, right? [1:43] And by the way, Trump, when it came out to, you know, what this is, how much? [1:48] Well, this is the soda bottle, and we got actually a little syringe here, [1:51] just so everybody could see it. [1:52] So we can just, just for purposes of accuracy here, [1:56] my eyes aren't so good, but I will show you the soda bottle [2:01] that the President of the United States is referring to, [2:03] and the single dose, 0.5 ml, in one MMR vaccine, [2:10] the one that has been falsely accused of being linked to autism. [2:13] So there you go. [2:14] Trump's dose, reality. [2:17] They're pretty different. [2:18] Well, Trump was asked then, where are you getting your information? [2:21] So here's what he said. [2:24] I think I heard you say that the MMR vaccine for measles, mumps, and rubella is quite lethal. [2:29] Is there any evidence of that? [2:31] What I've heard is that there are some people that say it is that way. [2:37] I've heard when you put them together, they can be explosive. [2:42] Some people is not science. [2:44] Some people is just what you hear people saying, [2:47] and in this case, it's not true. [2:50] And yet, because of what some people are saying that have gotten into the President's brain, [2:53] the entire vaccine schedule is being upended. [2:57] Very importantly, vaccinations for hepatitis B, COVID-19, [3:01] and influenza, among others, are no longer recommended for all children. [3:09] Now, vaccines save lives. [3:10] I want to show you a chart. [3:12] This middle chart, I'll show you, [3:13] is from a paper that was published in the med journal, The Lancet. [3:16] What you're looking at here, I can boil down very simply. [3:19] It estimates that 9 billion years of life for human beings have been gained thanks to just some vaccines [3:26] that you see listed there in different colors. [3:28] 9 billion years. [3:30] Well, that's something Elon Musk should be just championing and jumping up and down about, right? [3:34] I mean, the vaccine that's responsible for the most life years gained is actually measles. [3:40] And vaccine skepticism on that has caused the United States to shatter a record. [3:44] Nearly 2,500 cases this year, 2,500. [3:48] If you look at that chart, it tracks them. [3:51] So far, there have been more measles cases this year so far than the past 25 combined. [3:56] I mean, measles was basically declared eradicated thanks to vaccines. [3:59] Now, Trump and his HHS secretary, RFK Jr., who, of course, is a longtime vaccine skeptic, [4:05] are now undermining the success and all those life years gained from these vaccines. [4:10] They're on a mission to question vaccines in America. [4:16] How are you doing on the autism research? [4:19] We will have an answer for you. [4:21] We just got it. [4:22] It's so important. [4:25] There's nothing to get, but that hasn't stopped them from tying vaccines to autism [4:29] and a lot of other things for years and years. [4:33] The child, a beautiful child, went to have the vaccine and came back and a week later [4:41] got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, now is autistic. [4:45] Well, I do believe that autism does come from vaccines. [4:49] There are certain groups of people that don't take vaccines and don't take any pills that [4:54] have no autism, that have no autism. [4:58] There's no vaccine that is, you know, safe and effective. [5:03] That's one of the most infamous lines ever said by RFK Jr. [5:06] Elena Trin is out front at the White House. [5:09] And Elena, you're learning that Trump went ahead with this today, [5:12] despite warnings from multiple advisors, right? [5:17] Yeah, look, I mean, that's the political component of this. [5:20] And I think you're hearing from a lot of health experts and scientists today [5:23] coming out about the damage this could do to people who, you know, might erode vaccine confidence. [5:30] But I will say there have been advisors on the political side of this. [5:33] You know, there have been polling that has been shown and passed around people here [5:36] inside the West Wing at the White House that shows changing the vaccine schedule is deeply [5:42] unpopular. [5:43] And there have been political advisors who have been in the presidency are saying [5:46] perhaps this is not the right time to roll out a change to the vaccine schedule with the [5:52] midterms just a couple months away. [5:54] But a big part of this, and you could hear this really in the event in the Oval Office [5:57] today, Aaron, the president is very passionate about this. [6:00] This has become a fixation of his throughout his second term in office. [6:04] This idea that vaccines could be linked to autism. [6:08] That's why he directed, and you played that clip, I was going to reference it, of him asking [6:13] RFK Jr., you know, where are you on finding out what the reason for autism is? [6:18] He has put that as a number one priority that he wants RFK Jr. to have. [6:23] And I'd remind you as well that RFK Jr. was an anti-vaccine activist before entering the [6:29] Trump administration. [6:31] One thing that I noticed as well that I found pretty interesting today, Aaron, is what we [6:34] heard from the president's former surgeon general from his first term, Dr. Jerome Adams, [6:40] coming out and criticizing this order today. [6:44] He essentially said that he believes the president is getting really bad advice in regard to the [6:49] impacts that this is going to have on vaccine confidence and vaccine-presentable diseases. [6:54] And he brought up, as I mentioned, the politics of this, saying that he believes that this [6:58] is clearly going to be an issue that people vote on in the midterms and in 2028. [7:02] And it seems like Republicans are happy to take on the issue of declining vaccine uptake. [7:09] So just a very interesting thing from someone who used to work for the president, his former [7:13] surgeon general, Aaron. [7:14] Yeah, absolutely. [7:15] The Trump administration is changing the children's vaccine schedule. [7:19] On Monday, the president signed an executive order that would reduce the total number of [7:24] immunizations. [7:25] So basically, instead of 17 shots, which are recommended, it would go down to 11, dividing [7:30] the vaccine schedule into three categories and split the mumps, measles, and rubella shot, [7:36] known as the MMR vaccine, into individual shots instead of just one. [7:40] Now, there's little scientific evidence to support these changes, broad confidence among [7:45] Americans in vaccines like the MMR shot so far. [7:49] But for parents, the question this morning is what to believe. [7:53] Nothing has changed. [7:57] The science behind vaccines is the same today as it was yesterday. [8:02] The security that we have with vaccine safety has not changed. [8:06] The risks that the children in this country face for vaccine-preventable diseases has not [8:11] changed, and when you have people in the United States in positions of authority that are [8:15] feeding into confusion and fear, that is doing no service to those parents. [8:22] Okay. [8:22] Dr. Chris Parnell, director of the NAACP Center for Health Equity and Public Health Physician, [8:28] thank you so much for being here. [8:29] So I remember being a new parent, seeing the tray of needles, and being like, do we need [8:35] to do all of these at once? [8:36] And then the person would explain and say yes. [8:39] Help us understand why the recommended schedule is what it is. [8:42] Sure. [8:44] Good morning, Audie. [8:45] I think what's most important for those of us in public health and health care is to [8:50] reassure the public and reassure families and parents that vaccines are safe, vaccines are [8:59] effective, and that decisions around vaccines should be made by physicians, health care providers, [9:06] and scientists, and those decisions should be informed by years, decades of rigorous research [9:14] and study. [9:15] And time and time again, you've heard other physicians say it, and I will say it clearly [9:20] this morning, this is settled science. [9:23] There is no new information that suggests we should change the vaccine schedule. [9:28] Okay, well, let me play for you what Trump has to say, Chris, because I think that it's [9:33] actually quite common to hear this argument that he's making. [9:37] So let's give people a sample of it and see if they recognize it. [9:41] Very simply, large amounts of vaccine, large amounts of like vats of vaccine are currently [9:50] pumped into your child's body. [9:53] And I saw this early on, and I've seen proof of it, where they have a vaccination that looks [9:57] like the size of a bottle of soda poured into a little child's body. [10:05] And bad things happen in too many cases, because this is an explosion, this is an epidemic. [10:12] Okay, meanwhile, you had Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who's a doctor, saying this on [10:16] social media. [10:17] He says breaking up vaccines will mean children have to get more shots to get the same protection, [10:23] not fewer shots, and that it will increase hesitancy and make children safe. [10:28] So help me out, because I'm already confused, right? [10:30] Like, first I hear we're getting a lower number of shots, then someone says, actually, it's [10:33] more shots. [10:34] Like, what is the difference here? [10:38] Yeah, I think it's most important to first say that baby's immune systems are very strong, [10:45] very smart, and can handle the commonly recommended vaccine schedule. [10:50] Children are exposed to anywhere from 2,000 to 6,000 immune-triggering substances that [10:57] we call antigens every day. [11:00] And before this executive order, children were being exposed to 165 antigens through vaccines, [11:07] which are like beginner books, right? [11:09] Priming and pumping the immune system to function. [11:13] So when you change that vaccine schedule, when you break up MMR, or you say that flu or COVID [11:19] is not recommended, you take the commonly accepted vaccine schedule, and you spread it out. [11:26] What happens when you spread it out? [11:28] Parents are either more likely to forget and to return for multiple-dose vaccines. [11:33] Children miss much-needed protection. [11:36] And it's not just about the child who doesn't get vaccinated. [11:40] Remember, immunizations help to perform herd immunity. [11:44] So it's also about the child or the very vulnerable person who, because of some illness, [11:49] maybe cannot receive the full recommended vaccine dose. [11:52] So we have to think about the collective and the whole. [11:55] Over time, measles, for example, measles cases are up in the U.S. under this administration. [12:02] What are your concerns as we head into the school year? [12:06] My concerns are that that vaccination rate that is recommended among kindergartners continues [12:11] to drop. [12:12] It's recommended to be 95%. [12:14] It's now 92.5%. [12:16] And when that rate drops, people unfortunately get harmed, or worst-case scenario, they die. [12:22] We are having the worst measles outbreak in over three decades. [12:27] We are already surging above 2,300 cases in this year alone. [12:32] And that does not have to be. [12:33] These are researched, effective vaccines. [12:37] We know what times we're best able to give the vaccinations to children. [12:42] And we actually know the best dote. [12:44] Now we took something that was hardcore science, and we demote it to guessing. [12:49] And for Senator Bill Cassidy, way too little, too late. [12:53] As a physician, he should have stood his guard before the current secretary actually was confirmed, [12:59] and we were allowed to destroy the faith in public health.