President Trump is turning up the heat on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to slash the number of childhood vaccines — telling his own hand-picked health czar he's got "the yips" for not moving fast enough on the alleged link between shots and autism, according to people familiar with the matter.
The jaw-dropping push came over a May lunch at the president's golf course in northern Virginia, where Trump demanded to know why Kennedy wasn't doing more to probe the long-disputed connection between vaccines and autism, the people said.
Kennedy was taken aback, sources said. The health secretary — a longtime vaccine skeptic — had actually been told by White House political advisers to tone down his vaccine crusade ahead of the midterms.
Now it was the commander in chief himself who wanted to step on the gas.
The health secretary had the yips, Trump told Kennedy.
'Tone It Down'? Not Anymore
White House advisers had quietly urged Kennedy to dial back his vaccine efforts, fearful the issue could become a political liability heading into November's midterms.
But Trump had other ideas — and the president now steers nearly every conversation with his health secretary back to one thing: vaccines and autism, some of the people said.
Chief among the president's desires: do more to reduce the number of shots federal guidelines recommend for kids, sources said.
The hope, according to those familiar, is that autism rates will then drop — even if any such effect could take years to materialize.
A Political Minefield
The pressure campaign sets up a bitter showdown inside the administration, pitting a president determined to act against political operatives desperate to avoid a pre-election firestorm over childhood immunizations.
For Kennedy, it's a remarkable reversal: the man once told to pipe down is now being told he's not loud enough.
And for parents across America, the message from the Oval Office couldn't be clearer: fewer shots may be coming — whether the medical establishment likes it or not.
