Bhattacharya: Disparity in MMR and COVID child vaccination rates reflects evidence strength
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya · Taking Bold Bets: NIH and the Future of Biomedical Science · Sep 23, 2025 · at 48:13
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, NIH Director appointed under President Trump, compares pediatric vaccination rates for MMR versus COVID-19 to argue public uptake tracks underlying scientific certainty.
0:00 / 0:18exact quote · 19.0s
▶ Watch the full episode on YouTube → 720p mp4 · rendered on demand · StarZero watermark
“So, the uptake of MMR in this country, the MMR vaccine is like, 95% of American parents vaccinate their kids with MMR. The evidence is, and, I think it's like, 13% of American parents vaccinated their kids for the COVID vaccine. I think that reflects the scientific evidence regarding the relative merits of those vaccines.”
quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →
More from Dr. Jay Bhattacharya
Bhattacharya: NIH funded the Wuhan lab without the capability to audit it
“The NIH had sent money to the Wuhan lab but we couldn't audit it.”
Bhattacharya: Leucovorin restores speech in 20% of autistic kids with folate deficiency
“You know, for kids who have this folate deficiency in their brains, that, it actually works. And 20% of the kids, I think, restore speech. Up to 60% of the kids, they get much better.”
Bhattacharya: FDA will issue updated pregnancy guidelines for acetaminophen use
“There will be, yeah. So that's something that Dr. McCary, the FDA commissioner is working on. And there'll be also you know, changes in, in like how Medicare pays, Medicare, CMS, Medicare, and Medicaid pay for Leucovorin. So it's a cross-agency collaboration f…”
Bhattacharya: COVID plexiglass barriers and restaurant masking lacked scientific backing
“You remember the plexiglass that was everywhere? There's still, every time there's see a plexiglass, it makes me, fills me with rage, but that's another story. And there was no science behind that, right? There was the, there was like the, you wear a mask when…”