'Comeback of polio': Expert warns Trump picks will have 'major impact' on public health

In the medical community, President-elect Donald Trump has drawn a great deal of criticism for picking anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Kennedy, critics argue, has had no medical training and pushes ideas that are both unscientific and dangerous.

It remains to be seen whether or not Kennedy — son of the late attorney general Robert F. Kennedy Sr. and nephew of President John F. Kennedy — will be confirmed in the U.S. Senate in 2025 after Trump begins his second term.

Medical expert Dr. Vin Gupta discussed Trump's health care picks during a Tuesday morning, November 26 appearance on MSNBC's "Way Too Early." And he spoke candidly, warning that Trump's proposals could have dangerous consequences — including the "comeback of polio."

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Host Jonathan Lemire asked Gupta to describe the effects of "rolling back" vaccine requirements, "particularly for our children going to schools." And Gupta bluntly responded, "It means the comeback of polio."

Gupta continued, "It means the return of measles and other preventable illnesses — which, by the way, Jonathan, when it comes to measles, we cannot mess around. This is a disease that has a 15 percent hospitalization rate among the pediatric population. So if they were to do this — if Dr. Weldon, former congressman, were to say, 'You know what, we're going to remove significantly curtail vaccine recommendations for children' — that is a major impact on communities across the country."

Kennedy is known for his strident anti-vaccine views. But Gupta emphasized that vaccines have played a crucial role in preventing polio, measles and other diseases that caused considerable misery in the past.

Gupta told Lemire, "It is going to frankly increase the number of families who say, 'You know what, we're going to opt away from some of the recommendations from the AAP and other pediatric societies.' Those recommendations are not going to change. But if the CDC does this move, you're going to start to see preventable illnesses come back exactly at the right time, by the way, that children's hospitals and our capacity to care for children is at an all-time low in relative terms. Children's hospitals have closed many wings across the country."

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