Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz got his head handed to him during a Sunday appearance on “Face the Nation” when he tried to defend lies his boss, Donald Trump, has told about vaccines.
After a grilling from host Margaret Brennan, Oz admitted, “The MMR vaccine is not a lethal vaccine.”
And yet, Trump recently told the American public, “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 (Measles, Mumps Rubella 3-in-1 vaccination shot) we want to have separate.”
But as numerous doctors have noted, making the vaccines separate only adds cost to parents and forces children to take more shots, which is isn’t exactly ideal.
“The president twice said that the shot may be lethal,” Brennan told Oz. “Do you want to clarify that?”
Oz attempted to deflect Brennan’s question.
“We want the patients to get the treatments that their doctors are recommending for them,” he said. “But we also want parents to have the autonomy to decide what their kids receive.”
Brennan tried again.
“He said it was the MRR vaccine and used the term lethal. That’s what I’m asking to clarify.”
“The p-p-president wants Americans — he said this many times — to get vaccinated as their doctors recommend,” Oz stuttered.
“The MMR is not offered in three separate shots,” Brennan 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?”
After admitting the combined MMR vaccine isn’t lethal, Oz claimed Japan offers the vaccine separately.
But Brennan was ready for his dodge, remarking, “They had problems with it in Japan once they started separating things out. It increased costs, so…for low-income kids, what is it going to mean for them?”
Don’t be surprised if Trump gives Oz his walking papers very soon. After all, when you contradict an egomaniac on national television, it usually doesn’t end well.
