President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday that there are “problems” with vaccines, drawing what scientists say is a false connection between vaccines and autism rates on Monday.
“There are problems. We don’t do as well as a lot of other nations, and those nations use nothing,” Trump said during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump said that his administration would investigate it, which comes after several comments he’s made in recent months about the debunked research that showed a connection between vaccines and autism.
He’s also tapped vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, leading many to believe vaccines could be placed under increased scrutiny soon.
“If you look at autism, so 30 years ago we had I heard numbers like 1 in 200,000, 1 in 100,000. Now I’m hearing numbers like 1 in 100. So something’s wrong. There’s something wrong. And we’re going to find out about it,” Trump said.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 1 in 36 children have an autism spectrum disorder diagnosis, up from 1 in 150 in 2000. However, experts have said the increase comes from a better awareness of symptoms and changing criteria.
However, Trump did note that he was a “big believer” in the polio vaccine. He promised during the press conference that “you’re not going to lose” it, saying he “saw what happened with polio” and has “friends that were very much affected by that.”
During the press conference, Trump also said that he does not support vaccine mandates, which have long been ingrained in the nation’s public health policy. Trump was asked what he thought about schools mandating vaccines.
“I don’t like mandates; I’m not a big mandate person,” Trump answered.
Trump also discussed Kennedy during the press conference, defending his pick to lead the HHS.
“I think he’s going to be much less radical than you would think. I think he’s got a very open mind. Or I wouldn’t have put him there,” Trump said.
Kennedy, like several of Trump’s picks, is meeting with GOP senators on Capitol Hill to secure the necessary votes to confirm his nomination next month.