A stammering Dr. Mehmet Oz was forced to contradict President Donald Trump when grilled on live television Sunday.
The administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services was unable to avoid refuting Trump’s recent claim amid an on-air grilling from Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation.”
After much dodging, Oz admitted, “The MMR vaccine is not a lethal vaccine.”
Oz was forced to make this clarification after Trump addressed the nation with a speech that included factually inaccurate Make America Healthy Again talking points.
His topic was the Measles, Mumps Rubella 3-in-1 vaccination shot — which he signed an executive order to break up.
“There could be a possibility they are quite lethal and separately, they are not at all lethal but very effective,” Trump claimed. “So the MMR we want to have separate.”
Critics including Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) argue this move was “crazy” and “stupid” as it would increase costs for parents and cause physical pain to children forced to suffer more injections.
Brennan on Sunday noted recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data show only 92 percent of kindergartners have been vaccinated for measles despite the necessary 99 percent to meet a herd immunity threshold.
“The president twice said that the shot may be lethal,” she told Oz. “Do you want to clarify that?”
Oz dodged the question by articulating his message to the public.
“We want the patients to get the treatments that their doctors are recommending for them,” Oz said. “But we also want parents to have the autonomy to decide what their kids receive.”
Brennan circled back, repeating, “He said it was the MRR vaccine and used the term lethal. That’s what I’m asking to clarify.”
Oz started to stutter.
“The p-p-president wants Americans — he said this many times — to get vaccinated as their doctors recommend.”
Oz launched into an attack on state laws, which he argued made it difficult for parents to challenge their doctors on vaccines, only to be cut off by Brennan again.
“The MMR is not offered in three separate shots,” she said. “Merck, which produces it, said they could not offer that for another 10 years. Currently it is only offered as a single shot. The president called that single shot lethal. Do you want to clarify that?”
Oz admitted it was not lethal, and, once again, was shut down by Brennan when he tried to promote the separate vaccine by noting it is offered in Japan.
“They had problems with it in Japan once they started separating things out,” Brennan said. “It increased costs, so…for low-income kids, what is it going to mean for them?”
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