Trump Reportedly Assured Vaccine Skeptics at Donor Event in August That He Will Advance Their Cause

Trump Reportedly Assured Vaccine Skeptics at a Donor Event in August That He Will Advance Their Cause
By Elissa Strauss, Slate NOV. 22 2016 5:53 PM

As president-elect Donald Trump carries on with his transition to the White House, our country waits to see which parts of his campaign rhetoric were the swirly-twirly ideas of a callow populist, and which parts were substantial and considered enough to evolve into actual policy.

Among the big ideas many of us hope remain in the first category is Trump’s position on vaccinations. The president-elect has a long history of vaccine misinformation; he first began to express his beliefs that there might be a relationship between vaccines and autism nearly a decade ago—years after this association was scientifically discredited. He’s repeated these ideas over the years, and he never found it necessary to correct or refine his position during the election. As such, he’s left the door open for vaccine skeptics and more extreme anti-vaxxers to see his victory as one of their own.

This sort of excitement for Trump’s win appeared in a recent Facebook post by Jennifer Larson, CEO of the autism-focused Holland Center, in which she explained that she and other vaccination skeptics discussed their concerns with Trump at a donor event in August. According to her account, Trump assured them that he’s on their side.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2016/11/22/trump_reportedly_assured_vaccine_skeptics_of_his_support_at_a_donor_event.html