\n<\/p>\n
Here in Washington,\u00a0we\u2019ve\u00a0been hearing about tensions between the White House and one of its most controversial\u00a0\u2014\u00a0but,\u00a0at least\u00a0in\u00a0some\u00a0circles,\u00a0most\u00a0popular\u00a0\u2014\u00a0figures: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/p>\n
Polling of likely voters\u00a0indicates\u00a0that\u00a0the\u00a0Health and\u00a0Human\u00a0Services secretary\u00a0can be an asset to Republicans when\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0talking about improving the nation\u2019s food supply or labeling\u00a0ultraprocessed\u00a0foods. But when\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0talking about removing\u00a0recommendations\u00a0for\u00a0routine childhood vaccinations, he can be a detriment.<\/p>\n
So, when I learned Kennedy would be taking his show on the road to my home state of Ohio,\u00a0where populist figures\u00a0tend to perform well,\u00a0I knew I had to be there.<\/p>\n
How would a politician who\u00a0built his\u00a0reputation\u00a0seeding widespread doubts about routine childhood immunizations stay away from one of the core messages\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0preached for years?<\/p>\n
Well, it turns out,\u00a0he\u00a0starts by reading a book about\u00a0a\u00a0trash truck\u00a0to\u00a0preschoolers.<\/p>\n
The trip took us across northern Ohio, from a regenerative farm in Huron owned by two brothers who grow colorful vegetables to\u00a0the Cleveland Clinic, where Kennedy masked up\u00a0entering an operating room\u00a0of\u00a0a heart surgery patient.<\/p>\n
In the end, though, Kennedy\u00a0couldn\u2019t\u00a0escape the vaccine talk.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the City Club of Cleveland, Kennedy raised doubts about the safety of\u00a0vaccines\u00a0that had been\u00a0\u2014\u00a0up until\u00a0last\u00a0year\u00a0\u2014\u00a0universally recommended to prevent\u00a0hepatitis B, an\u00a0incurable disease.<\/p>\n
He called for parents to \u201cbe given that choice\u201d on\u00a0administering\u00a0the vaccine\u00a0to newborns,\u00a0a remark that gave way to cheers and applause\u00a0from\u00a0half the room.<\/p>\n
The other half groaned and booed.<\/p>\n
When I sat down with the health secretary for\u00a0a few\u00a0minutes\u00a0in an\u00a0Ohio farmhouse, Kennedy ticked off his accomplishments during his first year in office;\u00a0redesigning federal nutrition guidelines and defining\u00a0ultraprocessed\u00a0foods for the American public were among them.<\/p>\n
As his list grew longer, I thought about the mothers\u00a0I\u2019d\u00a0talked to over the last year who had become increasingly\u00a0nervous\u00a0about taking their\u00a0infants\u00a0out in crowded places\u00a0amid a raging measles outbreak and the growing threat from other infectious diseases.<\/p>\n
What was his message for those parents, I asked?<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say everybody should be vaccinated\u00a0\u2014\u00a0against measles,\u201d Kennedy told me. \u201cBut we need to pay\u00a0more and more\u00a0attention to chronic\u00a0disease.\u00a0All of\u00a0the vaccine-preventable, infectious diseases put together kill\u00a0probably 10,000\u00a0Americans a year.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The number of deaths is\u00a0closer to\u00a050,000<\/a>,\u00a0according to scientific researchers.<\/p>\n