Former independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said vaccines can stay, but parts of the Food and Drug Administration need to go, as he prepares for a possible position in the second Trump administration.
“I’m not going to take away anybody’s vaccines,” Mr. Kennedy said in an interview with NBC News, adding that he’s not “anti-vaccine” like some people say he is.
“If vaccines are working for somebody, I’m not going to take them away. People ought to have choice, and that choice ought to be informed by the best information,” he said. “So I’m going to make sure scientific safety studies and efficacy are out there, and people can make individual assessments about whether that product is going to be good for them.”
Mr. Kennedy ran for president as an independent before dropping out and ultimately throwing his support behind Mr. Trump. He has said that Mr. Trump has “assured” him that he will have some sort of role, most likely on health care.
He told NBC that some “entire departments” of federal agencies would be wiped out. He said the nutrition departments at the Food and Drug Administration “have to go” because they are not properly safeguarding the nation’s children.
“They’re not protecting our kids. Why do we have Froot Loops in this country that have 18 or 19 ingredients, and you go to Canada and it’s got two or three?” he said.
Mr. Kennedy addressed his previous statement that fluoride should be taken out of water, saying he wouldn’t force it but remind water districts “about their legal liability” in protecting residents.
• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.
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