NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya told Newsmax on Thursday night that he supports Florida’s plan to end all vaccine mandates and researching concerns about vaccine side effects raised by HHS Secretary Kennedy. Bhattacharya argued that mandates are not the most effective way to get the most people vaccinated. “The European strategy is different, and they’ve had better results than we do on essential vaccines like MMR,” he said. “In the UK, Sweden, and Denmark, all vaccines are voluntary. None of them have mandates for any of their vaccines. What they do have is public health that doesn’t lie to their people.” “They’re not coercing people-they’re reasoning with them. I’m not making an announcement for the administration; I’m giving you my view as an epidemiologist. That seems the better approach: talk to people, show them the data, be honest when there are problems, and treat people like adults, especially parents, so they can make good decisions for their families,” Bhattacharya said. “I don’t think the MMR vaccine causes autism, based on my reading of the scientific evidence,” he also said. “But I also know we don’t understand the rise in autism. The recent prevalence numbers are 1 in 31 kids; a few decades ago, it was 1 in 10,000. We really don’t know the etiology.” “As NIH Director-at the behest of Secretary Kennedy and President Trump-I’ve ordered an honest evaluation of the causes of autism,” Bhattacharya said. “Through the normal NIH process, 250 research groups across the country competed, and we’ll select the top dozen based on scientific review. Those projects should be ready to start by the end of this month-in record time. We need to open our minds, ask the real questions, and get answers with excellent science. That’s the right way-instead of all this disputation.”

ROB SCHMITT, NEWSMAX: You saw [HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.] silenced a lot during this hearing as he attempted to disprove a lot of the allegations that were hurled at him. I thought that was so interesting-the people who never let somebody talk are trying to claim that they’re the good guys. That can’t be right. DR. JAY BHATTACHARYA: Well, free speech suppression was a key tactic of public health during the pandemic. I can tell you from firsthand experience, so it wouldn’t surprise me. But I thought Secretary Kennedy got a lot of great points in-even though he wasn’t given much opportunity to respond. ROB SCHMITT: Yeah, he fought back. I think the stickiest point of the day was any time we touched on vaccines-whether COVID or MMR-it got really hairy. I feel like on the left the position seems to be clear: they don’t want anybody to talk about the fact that there might be harm done by a vaccine. That conversation can’t happen, because in their minds it will lead to vaccine hesitancy. And obviously if nobody gets critical vaccines like measles, mumps, rubella, that’s a huge public disaster. Kennedy feels we should have transparency and work to make these vaccines safer. For whatever reason, whenever he goes down that road he’s immediately labeled anti-vaccine, anti-science, a threat to public health. Is that how you see it? DR. JAY BHATTACHARYA: It’s totally unreasonable. Look at the MMR vaccine: the American people know better. You have 90-plus percent of parents vaccinating their kids, which makes complete sense given what the scientific evidence says and the risk-benefit ratios. For the COVID vaccine, less than 20% of American parents vaccinate their children-because it doesn’t make sense for most kids. From a scientific point of view, the risk of COVID is very low for small children, especially infants. What Secretary Kennedy is doing is aligning American vaccine policy with what’s happening in Europe. It’s not anti-scientific-it’s actually closer to what the scientific evidence says. Rather than treating vaccines as a religious talisman, we should apply gold-standard science and give good advice for good decisions. ROB SCHMITT: But that whole idea gets lambasted. If you want to touch any of it, you get silenced and canceled-just like during COVID. I do want to get to this: the Florida Surgeon General made a big announcement on what the state is looking at doing with vaccines. Let’s play this: FLORIDA SURGEON GENERAL LADAPO: The Florida Department of Health, in partnership with the governor, is going to be working to end all vaccine mandates in Florida law. All of them. ROB SCHMITT: So they’re looking at ending all vaccine mandates in the state of Florida. To a lot of people-even many who support Kennedy-this might be too far. Is the administration supporting this? What’s their take? DR. JAY BHATTACHARYA: I’m not sure exactly what the administration’s position is yet. But I’ll tell you, Rob: in the UK, in Sweden, in Denmark-none of them have vaccine mandates for any of their vaccines. All vaccines are voluntary. What they do have is public health that doesn’t lie to their people. So you have excellent vaccine uptake for MMR in those places without mandates, without violating bodily autonomy, because public health has the trust of the people-because they are trustworthy. The problem in the U.S. has been that public health hasn’t been trustworthy, especially during COVID. You saw exaggerations about the COVID vaccines’ ability to stop infection and transmission. And mandates just deepened the distrust. It’s not obvious the strategy of using mandates is the right one. The European strategy is different, and they’ve had better results than we do on essential vaccines like MMR. ROB SCHMITT: I don’t think a lot of people realize that-that in Europe, there isn’t a mandate, even to get into public school. DR. JAY BHATTACHARYA: That’s right. They’re not coercing people-they’re reasoning with them. I find that approach attractive. I’m not making an announcement for the administration; I’m giving you my view as an epidemiologist. That seems the better approach: talk to people, show them the data, be honest when there are problems, and treat people like adults-especially parents-so they can make good decisions for their families. ROB SCHMITT: Senators Kennedy and Cassidy-both Republicans-had harsh comments about the Secretary in recent days that I don’t think are fair. Even today, there was no real response from critics to Kennedy when he raised points like the 2002 study in Fulton County, Georgia. That study showed Black boys were 260% more likely to develop autism if they got the MMR vaccine before age three. That research was deleted from a study. There’s no response from critics when he brings that up. What is the answer to something like that? If there is a danger there, is the answer to wait longer? It’s a critical vaccine, but he shows there’s a danger that has been hidden from the American people. DR. JAY BHATTACHARYA: That was 2002. It was a very different version of the MMR vaccine than we use today. Based on my reading of the scientific evidence, I don’t think the MMR vaccine causes autism. But I also know we don’t understand the rise in autism. The recent prevalence numbers are 1 in 31 kids; a few decades ago, it was 1 in 10,000. We really don’t know the etiology. As NIH Director-at the behest of Secretary Kennedy and President Trump-I’ve ordered an honest evaluation of the causes of autism. Through the normal NIH process, 250 research groups across the country competed, and we’ll select the top dozen based on scientific review. Those projects should be ready to start by the end of this month-in record time. We need to open our minds, ask the real questions, and get answers with excellent science. That’s the right way-instead of all this disputation.

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