Leader Of Trump's Vaccine Panel Says Polio, Measles Shots Should Be OptionalThe chair of the federal government's vaccine panel has spent the past 24 hours casting doubt on the need for polio and measles vaccines.In interviews with the podcast "Why Should I Trust You?" and The New York Times, Dr. Kirk Milhoan, the pediatric cardiologist who chairs the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, suggested making both of those vaccines optional.“If there is no choice, then informed consent is an illusion,” he told the Times. “Without consent it is medical battery.”Both the polio and measles vaccines are required for children to attend public schools nationwide.Milhoan, who's pushed ivermectin as a COVID-19 treatment, told the podcast: “As you look at polio, we need to not be afraid to consider that we are in a different time now than we were then. Our sanitation is different, our risk of disease is different, and so those all play into the evaluation of whether this is worthwhile of taking a risk for a vaccine or not.”He also suggested that deaths from the current measles outbreaks, such as the one that just surpassed 700 cases in South Carolina, would be helpful for understanding disease risk.“What we’re going to have is a real-world experience of when unvaccinated people get measles,” he said on the podcast. “What is the new incidence of hospitalization? What’s the incidence of death?”See All UpdatesClose