In response to Trump's remarks, Dr. Oz claims the MMR vaccine is not considered "lethal."

In response to Trump’s remarks, Dr. Oz claims the MMR vaccine is not considered “lethal.” – On Sunday, August 23, Dr. Mehmet Oz and President Donald Trump disagreed over the MMR vaccine on Margaret Brennan’s “Face the Nation” program.

The cardiothoracic surgeon, who was once a political candidate and host of the popular daytime talk program “Dr. Oz,” was later selected by Trump to the position of administrator at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

During the interview with Brennan, Oz was questioned about remarks Trump made earlier this month referring to the MMR vaccine, which guards against measles, mumps, and rubella, as “quite lethal.”

With the pivotal midterms in November just over two months away, the former TV host’s admission on Sunday that the vaccination is not fatal coincides with rising scrutiny of the Trump administration’s health policy by experts and Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy.

When Brennan asked Oz to elaborate on Trump’s claims, he responded, “We want patients to get the treatments for that their doctors are recommending to them, but we also want parents to have the autonomy to decide what their kids receive.” When Oz did not respond directly, Brennan brought up the fact that the MMR vaccine is now only given once, thus it might take ten years to administer it three times.

Brennan was then informed by Oz that “the MMR vaccine is not a lethal vaccine.” Additionally, he made the case that the Department of Health and Human Services, which includes Oz’s CMS, frequently discusses parental rights.

While signing an executive order on vaccines earlier in August, Trump made a number of unverified claims. He told reporters gathered at the White House that “together there could be a possibility [the MMR vaccine is] quite lethal and separately, it looks like they are not at all lethal, but just very effective.”

According to medical professionals, the MMR vaccine is not fatal when administered in its current form, and Trump’s claims that splitting the shots will improve a child’s health are not supported by medical studies.

Sen. Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on August 16 that Trump’s misleading claims at the White House were “potentially tragic” and “wrong on so many levels.”