Donald Trump Will Not Remove Polio Vaccine, Hails Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as ‘Very Rational Guy’

President-elect Donald Trump on Monday praised Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, as “a very rational guy” and said his administration would not revoke the polio vaccine.

The matter came up during a press conference at Mar-a-Lago when a reporter asked Trump if he wanted Kennedy Jr. “to revoke any vaccines?”

“No, I want him to come back with a report as to what he thinks. We’re going to find out a lot,” Trump said.

“We’re doing two things: We’re going to have tremendous cost savings will come out of this, that’s a minimum. And we’re also going to have, and I think, very serious discussions about certain things,” he added, naming “pesticides” as an example.

“Europe doesn’t use pesticides, and yet, they have a better mortality rate than we do. They don’t use pesticides. In fact, they use it as an excuse not to take our farm product,” he said. “We spend billions and billions of dollars on pesticides.”

“And something bad is happening. Again, you take a look at autism today versus 20-25 years ago, it’s like not even believable,” Trump continued.

Trump again stressed that there would be reports before any changes.

“So we’re going to have reports. Nothing’s going to happen very quickly. I think you’re going to find that Bobby is a very rational guy,” Trump said. “I found him to be very rational.”

Trump then made clear that his administration would not pull the polio vaccine.

“You’re not going to lose the polio vaccine. That’s not going to happen,” Trump said. “I saw what happened with polio. I have friends that were very much affected by that.”

Trump also praised Dr. Jonas Salk, who invented the first polio vaccine.

The question and Trump’s response come as Kennedy Jr. begins meeting with senators this week in preparation for his confirmation process.

NBC News reports that Kennedy Jr. has meetings set with incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), incoming Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso (R-WY), and incoming Senate Finance Committee Chair Mike Crap (R-ID).