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A Trump supporter said that she supported the administration’s cuts to foreign aid because it meant that fewer people would get vaccinated.
Comedian Jason Selvig talked to a woman wearing a red cap and a T-shirt with a giant picture of Donald Trump. He asked whether she supported the Trump administration ending the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the executive agency that administered US development aid until 2025, including funding for HIV prevention efforts and other health interventions in poorer countries.
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When she didn’t seem to know what USAID was, Selvig explained that it was “the aid operation for countries… vaccines and food for impoverished countries.”
“Totally against vaccines,” the woman wearing a red cap said.
“You’re against vaccines?” Selvig asked.
“Absolutely, 100%,” she continued. He then asked if she meant “all vaccines.” She replied, “Every single one of them. They’re poison.”
“What about the polio vaccine?” Selvig asked.
“There hasn’t been a case of polio in how many years? Since 1960?” she responded.
“Since the vaccine,” Selvig responded.
The Salk vaccine against polio was developed in the 1950s and came into wide use in early 1961. According to the Centers for Disease Control, the last known case of polio in the US was in 1979.
The University of Minnesota estimates that ending USAID will result in 14 million deaths by 2030, with 4.5 million of those being among preschool children.