Donald Trump says by changing the way doctors vaccinate, it will make a 'big impact on autism'

(Image credit: Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)

published 17 September 2015

Donald Trump said that while he's "totally in favor of vaccines," he would like to see children receive their vaccinations in smaller doses over a longer period of time.

Trump said he has seen a link between vaccines and autism, which has "become an epidemic" and is "out of control." He added: "You take a baby in...you take this little beautiful baby and you pump it with what looks like it's meant for a horse, not a child. People that work for me, just the other day, two-year-old, two-and-a-half-year-old, beautiful child, they went to have a vaccine and came back and a week later they got a tremendous fever, got very, very sick, and now is autistic." If babies start getting "the same amount just in little sections," he said, "you will see a big impact on autism."

Dr. Ben Carson, a retired pediatric neurosurgeon, called Trump an "okay doctor," and said that "we have extremely well documented proof that there's no autism associated with vaccinations, but it is true that we are probably given way too many in too short of a time. A lot of pediatricians now recognize that." Ophthalmologist Rand Paul said he's "all for vaccines and also all for freedom," adding, "even if science doesn't say bunching up isn't a problem, I ought to have the right to spread my vaccines out a little bit at the very least." Catherine Garcia

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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