Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s son, Bobby Kennedy III, recently posted and then deleted a video on social media that captured a phone conversation between Kennedy Jr. and former President Donald Trump, in which Trump appeared to endorse unfounded theories about vaccine safety.
The video, taken on Sunday, a day after Trump was injured in a shooting at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, shows Kennedy Jr. listening to Trump discussing vaccines for children. Trump suggests that the administration of a high number of vaccines can cause drastic changes in infants.
“When you feed a baby, Bobby, a vaccination that is, like, 38 different vaccines and it looks like it’s been for a horse. Not a, you know, 10-pound or 20-pound baby,” Trump says in the call. “And then you see the baby all of a sudden starting to change radically. I’ve seen it too many times.”
Trump also expressed skepticism toward public health experts who affirm that the recommended immunization schedule is safe and effective, adding, “And then you hear it doesn’t have an impact, right?”
In reality, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends a vaccination schedule to protect children from 16 potentially life-threatening diseases by age 6. These vaccines are often combined to reduce the number of shots, with dose sizes adjusted for infants and some vaccines administered orally or as a nasal spray.
Following the video’s release, Kennedy Jr. apologized to Trump for the leak, explaining that an in-house videographer was filming him for a different project and should have been stopped from recording the call. Kennedy tweeted his regret and apology, and Trump’s advisers referred CNN to Kennedy’s tweet when asked if Trump was aware he was being recorded.
The Biden campaign criticized Trump and Kennedy Jr., stating, “Trump and his anti-vax bud ‘Bobby’ are spreading dangerous conspiracy theories that threaten the lifesaving care that tens of millions of people depend on.” They emphasized that the footage proves Trump’s unreliability in protecting Americans’ health care.
