www.newsweek.com
Medical experts assess Trump's "bottle of soda" claim about childhood shots
By Hollie Silverman and Andrew Stanton0ShareNewsweek is a Trust Project member
8 - 10 minutes
President Donald Trump claimed while signing his executive order on childhood immunizations Monday that he had seen vaccinations "the size of a bottle of soda poured into a little child's body," arguing that vaccine doses should instead be spread across multiple visits.
Medical experts say that description bears little resemblance to the actual volume of vaccines children receive under the routine U.S. immunization schedule, closer to a couple of tablespoons.
Trump made the remarks as he unveiled an executive order that would overhaul federal vaccine recommendations, including splitting the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into separate shots and shifting several vaccines from universal recommendations to a shared decision-making model between parents and doctors.
“Protecting children from preventable infectious diseases must remain a national public health priority," Robert H. Hopkins Jr., MD, Medical Director for the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID), told Newsweek in a statement on Tuesday. "The United States is currently experiencing its largest measles resurgence in more than three decades."
"The nation is approaching another respiratory season after two severe influenza seasons, including a record-high hospitalization rate in 2024–2025 with one of the highest pediatric death tolls on record and nearly 200 pediatric deaths in 2025–2026," he noted.
A nurse prepares an MMR vaccine for a patient at Tiger Pediatrics in Easley, South Carolina, on March 17, 2026.
How Much Vaccination Do Children Actually Receive?
According to Melissa Stockwell, Division Chief of Child and Adolescent Health at Columbia University, the total volume of routine childhood vaccinations is far smaller than Trump's description suggests.
"The volume of immunizations children receive is actually quite small," Stockwell told Newsweek.
Using combination vaccines currently recommended in the U.S., the total volume of routine early childhood immunizations amounts to about two teaspoons, excluding influenza and COVID-19 vaccines.
Even when routinely recommended school-age and adolescent vaccines are included, the cumulative amount rises to about one tablespoon over an entire childhood. Adding annual flu and COVID-19 vaccinations from infancy through age 17 brings the total to only "a couple of tablespoons" throughout childhood.
Those figures stand in sharp contrast to Trump's comparison to a bottle of soda, which typically contains 12 ounces (or 24 tablespoons). Newsweek reached out to the White House for additional comment, but was referred to the comments Trump made in the Oval Office today.
Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who is also a physician, posted on X about the benefits of vaccines, saying, "A single vaccination can prevent multiple diseases. It means fewer shots, fewer trips to the doctor, fewer opportunities for side effects, fewer missed work days for the mother, all while protecting children against more diseases.
"If we’re going to Make America Healthy Again, take into account what is more likely to prevent diseases and what is convenient for the mother and the family," he continued, adding, "This is why parents are losing faith in this Administration. It doesn’t take into account how many things parents have to balance to raise their children and to be able to afford to keep their children healthy."
President Donald Trump (L) and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shake hands during a meeting in the Oval Office to sign an executive order about vaccines on August 10, 2026.
What Experts Say About Immune System Impact
Stockwell also challenged arguments that children are overwhelmed by the number of vaccines on the recommended schedule. She said the total number of antigens, proteins and sugars recognized by a child's immune system across all routinely recommended vaccines combined is roughly 160 to 170.
"To put that in perspective, one single bacterium can contain thousands of these antigens," Stockwell said, adding that a child's first bacterial ear infection or case of strep throat exposes the immune system to far more antigens than all recommended vaccines combined.
The comments echo broader medical consensus that modern vaccines contain significantly fewer antigens than older vaccines despite protecting against more diseases.
"It's deeply disappointing, concerning. This is a dangerous further step down this anti-science, anti-intellectual path that America has been marching on under Republican leadership," Dr. Annie Andrews, a pediatrician and a Democratic South Carolina Senate candidate, told Newsweek on Tuesday.
"This will lead to further unnecessary preventable illness and suffering amongst children. I feel for parents of young children, pregnant women, parents of infants who don't know where to turn to get sound medical advice because the decisions that were announced from the Oval Office have nothing to do with an evolution of evidence-based science," Andrews said.
"It has nothing to do with us discovering something new about vaccines. RFK Jr. continues to be nothing more than a conspiracy theorist and a grifter," Andrews said, adding, "He shouldn't be anywhere near the process of public health policy making in this country, and yet here he has been elevated to lead our nation's Department of Health and Human Services."
Andrews said parents should "talk to their own pediatrician about their vaccination schedules, about decisions that they are making. "I really urge parents to talk to their own doctors, their own pediatricians, and ignore what they are hearing from our R.F.K. Jr., Donald Trump and Dr. Oz."
"The vaccine schedule, as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, is safe and effective, as are all the vaccines recommended in it," she said, noting that "it's a balance of, you know, meeting the urgency of newborn risk for these preventable infectious diseases, because in those first weeks and months of life newborns' immune systems are not ready to fight a lot of these infections, and that is why we concentrate vaccinations in these first months of life."
A baby receives a malaria vaccine at the Soa District Hospital in Yaounde, Cameroon, on April 29, 2026.
Vaccine Debate
Trump's executive order comes amid a contentious debate over childhood vaccine recommendations. The White House says the changes are intended to increase parental choice and bring the United States closer to practices used in some other developed countries.
However, pediatricians and public health organizations have raised concerns that separating vaccines and increasing the number of appointments could make it harder for families to complete immunization schedules.
Stockwell said there is "no scientific or public health rationale" for splitting the MMR vaccine into three separate injections. She warned that requiring additional visits could increase the risk of missed or delayed doses, leaving children vulnerable to diseases for longer periods.
"There is no established clinical or immunologic benefit to separating out the MMR vaccine into three separate shots," she said.
In an interview with Wayne Allyn Root that aired on Monday night, Trump doubled down on his assertion that he was not doing harm by signing the executive order.
"What do you have to lose? If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. Nobody's going to get hurt by it," Trump said in a phone interview on Real America's Voice, adding, "MMR, if you give them separately the M, the M, and the R, it's fine. When you put them together, they're sort of like a nuclear weapon, according to some."
President Donald Trump holds a signed executive order about vaccines on August 10, 2026, in the Oval Office of the White House.
Public Health Concerns
Medical groups have also pushed back against suggestions that routine childhood vaccinations are causing widespread harm.
In a statement emailed to Newsweek on Tuesday, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases said vaccines remain among the most effective tools for preventing serious illness, hospitalization, disability and death in children. The organization noted that the United States is experiencing its largest measles resurgence in more than three decades and urged policymakers to base vaccine recommendations on scientific evidence rather than political considerations.
The group warned that making vaccines harder to obtain could reduce uptake and increase the risk of outbreaks of diseases that have long been kept under control.
For parents trying to navigate conflicting messages, Stockwell said pediatricians should remain the primary source of guidance.
"We know there is so much conflicting information and can be difficult for parents to know what to trust," she said. "Pediatricians spend years training to evaluate the scientific evidence, understand an individual child's needs and help families make informed decisions that are best for their child."
As debate over Trump's vaccine overhaul intensifies, experts say one point remains clear: the actual quantity of vaccine a child receives over the course of childhood is measured in teaspoons and tablespoons, not soda bottles.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Samantha Beech, Gray R. Thomas, Sam Wilson.
I've had several people explain to me that Ozempic is just basically snake venom (literally) and when they inject it it just makes their stomach numb and they don't eat.
But isn't that at least kinda close? The compound was originally discovered in gila monster venom (but is now based off the human version). And I haven't personally tried them to know if "numb" is apt, but the glp drugs do reduce the feeling of hunger.
My understanding of the role of the gila monster venom wasn't the GLP-1 Receptor Agonist itself, but rather that it slowed the process of it breaking down in your body?
I suspect he's managed to confound a drip with the vaccine. Possibly from some attempt to educate people on the risks of COVID etc. Or possibly just from a random medical drama.
Either way still completely idiotic, let alone coming from the US president.
The algorithm always recommends chud channels. Just go to your subscribed feed and watch channels you're subscribed to. Occasionally check out the recommended channels to see if there's some good content from channels you're not subscribed to yet.
With AI slop increasing, the recommended feed will only continue to get worse, so it's better to curate channels and go to the subscribed feed by default.
I once used a 250ml syringe with a needle big enough to shoot a match through and filled it with a bright blue desinfectant as a prank (and no, I did not inject it into someone!).
Applying anything into the human body - even an adult - in that size is probably a dangerous thing to do...
No it isn't. Rabies vaccine is 1ml. The immune globulin that you get with the first vaccine is larger, but still not close to a can of coke. It goes by body weight, most adults will get around 10-15ml.
31 Comments
20cello@lemmy.world · 34 pts · 4d
Fucking demented
fraksken@infosec.pub · 25 pts · 4d
Is this real?
JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world · 40 pts · 4d
Yes. Hes that stupid. Wonder what that makes the people who allowed this administration to happen in the second place.
unemployedclaquer@sopuli.xyz · 18 pts · 3d
www.newsweek.com Medical experts assess Trump's "bottle of soda" claim about childhood shots By Hollie Silverman and Andrew Stanton0ShareNewsweek is a Trust Project member 8 - 10 minutes
President Donald Trump claimed while signing his executive order on childhood immunizations Monday that he had seen vaccinations "the size of a bottle of soda poured into a little child's body," arguing that vaccine doses should instead be spread across multiple visits.
Medical experts say that description bears little resemblance to the actual volume of vaccines children receive under the routine U.S. immunization schedule, closer to a couple of tablespoons.
Trump made the remarks as he unveiled an executive order that would overhaul federal vaccine recommendations, including splitting the combined measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine into separate shots and shifting several vaccines from universal recommendations to a shared decision-making model between parents and doctors.
“Protecting children from preventable infectious diseases must remain a national public health priority," Robert H. Hopkins Jr., MD, Medical Director for the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID), told Newsweek in a statement on Tuesday. "The United States is currently experiencing its largest measles resurgence in more than three decades."
"The nation is approaching another respiratory season after two severe influenza seasons, including a record-high hospitalization rate in 2024–2025 with one of the highest pediatric death tolls on record and nearly 200 pediatric deaths in 2025–2026," he noted.
A nurse prepares an MMR vaccine for a patient at Tiger Pediatrics in Easley, South Carolina, on March 17, 2026. How Much Vaccination Do Children Actually Receive?
According to Melissa Stockwell, Division Chief of Child and Adolescent Health at Columbia University, the total volume of routine childhood vaccinations is far smaller than Trump's description suggests.
"The volume of immunizations children receive is actually quite small," Stockwell told Newsweek.
Using combination vaccines currently recommended in the U.S., the total volume of routine early childhood immunizations amounts to about two teaspoons, excluding influenza and COVID-19 vaccines.
Even when routinely recommended school-age and adolescent vaccines are included, the cumulative amount rises to about one tablespoon over an entire childhood. Adding annual flu and COVID-19 vaccinations from infancy through age 17 brings the total to only "a couple of tablespoons" throughout childhood.
Those figures stand in sharp contrast to Trump's comparison to a bottle of soda, which typically contains 12 ounces (or 24 tablespoons). Newsweek reached out to the White House for additional comment, but was referred to the comments Trump made in the Oval Office today.
Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who is also a physician, posted on X about the benefits of vaccines, saying, "A single vaccination can prevent multiple diseases. It means fewer shots, fewer trips to the doctor, fewer opportunities for side effects, fewer missed work days for the mother, all while protecting children against more diseases.
"If we’re going to Make America Healthy Again, take into account what is more likely to prevent diseases and what is convenient for the mother and the family," he continued, adding, "This is why parents are losing faith in this Administration. It doesn’t take into account how many things parents have to balance to raise their children and to be able to afford to keep their children healthy."
President Donald Trump (L) and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. shake hands during a meeting in the Oval Office to sign an executive order about vaccines on August 10, 2026. What Experts Say About Immune System Impact
Stockwell also challenged arguments that children are overwhelmed by the number of vaccines on the recommended schedule. She said the total number of antigens, proteins and sugars recognized by a child's immune system across all routinely recommended vaccines combined is roughly 160 to 170.
"To put that in perspective, one single bacterium can contain thousands of these antigens," Stockwell said, adding that a child's first bacterial ear infection or case of strep throat exposes the immune system to far more antigens than all recommended vaccines combined.
The comments echo broader medical consensus that modern vaccines contain significantly fewer antigens than older vaccines despite protecting against more diseases.
"It's deeply disappointing, concerning. This is a dangerous further step down this anti-science, anti-intellectual path that America has been marching on under Republican leadership," Dr. Annie Andrews, a pediatrician and a Democratic South Carolina Senate candidate, told Newsweek on Tuesday.
"This will lead to further unnecessary preventable illness and suffering amongst children. I feel for parents of young children, pregnant women, parents of infants who don't know where to turn to get sound medical advice because the decisions that were announced from the Oval Office have nothing to do with an evolution of evidence-based science," Andrews said.
"It has nothing to do with us discovering something new about vaccines. RFK Jr. continues to be nothing more than a conspiracy theorist and a grifter," Andrews said, adding, "He shouldn't be anywhere near the process of public health policy making in this country, and yet here he has been elevated to lead our nation's Department of Health and Human Services."
Andrews said parents should "talk to their own pediatrician about their vaccination schedules, about decisions that they are making. "I really urge parents to talk to their own doctors, their own pediatricians, and ignore what they are hearing from our R.F.K. Jr., Donald Trump and Dr. Oz."
"The vaccine schedule, as recommended by the American Academy of Pediatrics, is safe and effective, as are all the vaccines recommended in it," she said, noting that "it's a balance of, you know, meeting the urgency of newborn risk for these preventable infectious diseases, because in those first weeks and months of life newborns' immune systems are not ready to fight a lot of these infections, and that is why we concentrate vaccinations in these first months of life."
A baby receives a malaria vaccine at the Soa District Hospital in Yaounde, Cameroon, on April 29, 2026. Vaccine Debate
Trump's executive order comes amid a contentious debate over childhood vaccine recommendations. The White House says the changes are intended to increase parental choice and bring the United States closer to practices used in some other developed countries.
However, pediatricians and public health organizations have raised concerns that separating vaccines and increasing the number of appointments could make it harder for families to complete immunization schedules.
Stockwell said there is "no scientific or public health rationale" for splitting the MMR vaccine into three separate injections. She warned that requiring additional visits could increase the risk of missed or delayed doses, leaving children vulnerable to diseases for longer periods.
"There is no established clinical or immunologic benefit to separating out the MMR vaccine into three separate shots," she said.
In an interview with Wayne Allyn Root that aired on Monday night, Trump doubled down on his assertion that he was not doing harm by signing the executive order.
"What do you have to lose? If I'm wrong, I'm wrong. Nobody's going to get hurt by it," Trump said in a phone interview on Real America's Voice, adding, "MMR, if you give them separately the M, the M, and the R, it's fine. When you put them together, they're sort of like a nuclear weapon, according to some."
President Donald Trump holds a signed executive order about vaccines on August 10, 2026, in the Oval Office of the White House. Public Health Concerns
Medical groups have also pushed back against suggestions that routine childhood vaccinations are causing widespread harm.
In a statement emailed to Newsweek on Tuesday, the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases said vaccines remain among the most effective tools for preventing serious illness, hospitalization, disability and death in children. The organization noted that the United States is experiencing its largest measles resurgence in more than three decades and urged policymakers to base vaccine recommendations on scientific evidence rather than political considerations.
The group warned that making vaccines harder to obtain could reduce uptake and increase the risk of outbreaks of diseases that have long been kept under control.
For parents trying to navigate conflicting messages, Stockwell said pediatricians should remain the primary source of guidance.
"We know there is so much conflicting information and can be difficult for parents to know what to trust," she said. "Pediatricians spend years training to evaluate the scientific evidence, understand an individual child's needs and help families make informed decisions that are best for their child."
As debate over Trump's vaccine overhaul intensifies, experts say one point remains clear: the actual quantity of vaccine a child receives over the course of childhood is measured in teaspoons and tablespoons, not soda bottles.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Samantha Beech, Gray R. Thomas, Sam Wilson.
Bakkoda@lemmy.world · 17 pts · 3d
If you think people won't believe this:
I've had several people explain to me that Ozempic is just basically snake venom (literally) and when they inject it it just makes their stomach numb and they don't eat.
duckythescientist@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 3d
But isn't that at least kinda close? The compound was originally discovered in gila monster venom (but is now based off the human version). And I haven't personally tried them to know if "numb" is apt, but the glp drugs do reduce the feeling of hunger.
Stiggyman@ani.social · 2 pts · 3d
Its not numbing.
Numbing is blocking nerves from sending signals
This instead lowers the response your brain produces to being hungry. We don't mess with the signal we tune it down
JasonDJ@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 3d
My understanding of the role of the gila monster venom wasn't the GLP-1 Receptor Agonist itself, but rather that it slowed the process of it breaking down in your body?
Would love for a chemist/RPh to correct me.
fratermus@piefed.social · 14 pts · 3d
Dude inadvertently reveals he was never with his kids at the doctor when they got vaccinated.
weps@lemmy.world · 12 pts · 3d
He said he was there when they vaccinated his children and they injected gallons
TachyonTele_Esq@piefed.social · 7 pts · 3d
Well, that I can believe. Those kids ain't bright.
leavemealone@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 3d
It wasn't a vaccine for stupidity, we can be sure of that... Maybe a vaccine for empathy, I could believe that.
raman_klogius@ani.social · 11 pts · 3d
Now think again about how all the tech CEOs are behind Mr orange at his inauguration.
Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 3d
They are trying to subvert democracy and Trump is their tool. These fuckers all belong in jail.
Lucidlethargy@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 3d
Dumb, old people love AI so fucking much.
This is a thing.
cynar@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 3d
I suspect he's managed to confound a drip with the vaccine. Possibly from some attempt to educate people on the risks of COVID etc. Or possibly just from a random medical drama.
Either way still completely idiotic, let alone coming from the US president.
NotSafeForWorld@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 5 pts · 3d
Or did he just watch the latest episode of the real Infowars?
Redditmodstouchgrass@lemmy.zip · 5 pts · 3d
I love that channel, but I might have to drop it because the algorithm can't tell the difference between satire and actual chud channels.
SpaceCowboy@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 3d
The algorithm always recommends chud channels. Just go to your subscribed feed and watch channels you're subscribed to. Occasionally check out the recommended channels to see if there's some good content from channels you're not subscribed to yet.
With AI slop increasing, the recommended feed will only continue to get worse, so it's better to curate channels and go to the subscribed feed by default.
Treczoks@lemmy.world · 4 pts · 3d
I once used a 250ml syringe with a needle big enough to shoot a match through and filled it with a bright blue desinfectant as a prank (and no, I did not inject it into someone!).
Applying anything into the human body - even an adult - in that size is probably a dangerous thing to do...
Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 3d
Poopypants probably saw a video of a kid getting an IV and someone told him it's vaccines. Or he just made it up in that dementia addled mind of his.
borQue@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 3d
Totally Deranged Shitface.
Rcklsabndn@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 3d
'Mr. Trump, didn't you tell us you saw Snagglepuss out the window last week?'
notsosure@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 4d
The only good news is that there will be fewer stupid people.
daggermoon@piefed.world · 1 pts · 3d
I wouldn't be so sure. Stupidity is contagious.
Seasm0ke@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 3d
Rabies vaccine is the only one I can think of that's like half a can of coke
whyNotSquirrel@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 3d
the one you get once you're infected? Because the preventive one I got was not that much (3 shots, for lifetime I think)
(The shots I got just give you more time to get the life saving shot, it doesn't protect you entirely)
Seasm0ke@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 3d
Yup, post exposure got 4 shots, buddy is 300lbs. Anecdotal for me so could be a fish story
__Lost__@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 1 pts · 3d
No it isn't. Rabies vaccine is 1ml. The immune globulin that you get with the first vaccine is larger, but still not close to a can of coke. It goes by body weight, most adults will get around 10-15ml.
Abyssian@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 3d
He's just lying about the size of his penis but accurately describing things he's done with it.
antianarchist@sopuli.xyz · -11 pts · 3d