Trump Mocked as ‘Diphtheria Don’ After Bonkers Interview
He complained of “beautiful little babies” being “pumped” with entire vats of vaccines.
Donald Trump has added to his list of nicknames after sharing his take on vaccines—and his apparent fever dream of how they’re administered to infants.
Asked about a potential “vaccine safety committee” during his appearance on Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson Sunday, Trump, 79, began: “I believe in vaccines, but I don’t believe that you have to have a mandate for all of them...”
First lauding the polio vaccine, the president soon changed his tune and claimed that we’re “up to 88 vaccines”—a big jump from Health Secretary RFK Jr.’s recommended 11—before illustrating his bizarre imagining of how these vaccines are delivered.

Trump claimed that 'we're up to 88' vaccinations in the States, and that babies are 'pumped' with 'vats' of them.
Sinclair Television Group
“I look at these beautiful little babies and they get a vat, like a big glass of stuff pumped into their bodies,” he began.
Picking up on RFK Jr.’s vaccination conspiracy theories, Trump mused: “I think it’s a very negative thing to do... I would love to see much smaller shots, like four visits to the doctor. And I think you would have a much better result with the autism.”
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Many viewers of the interview suggested that Trump must have never accompanied any of his five children to the doctor’s office in order to see a shot in action.
Despite claiming to be a vaccination fan, Trump echoed RFK Jr.'s conspiracy theory of shots leading to autism.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Meanwhile, medical professionals pointed out that Trump’s proposed “smaller quantities” of vaccinations would be null—and that the average person isn’t getting anywhere close to 80 of them to begin with.
“Ngl I’m surprised it took this long for Diphtheria Don to spill his giant glass of childhood vaccines all over Sharyl Attkisson’s anti-vax podcast,” Dr. Angela Rasmussen of the University of Saskatchewan commented on X.
“I’ll bet you a million dollars that Trump doesn’t have a clue how many vaccines the average baby gets,” radiologist Pradheep Shanker MD wagered.
CNN fact checker Daniel Dale clarified: “Again, so much vaccine misinformation from the president. Kids don’t get anywhere close to ‘88′ or ‘82′ vaccines. They aren’t given ‘a vat’ or ‘big glass of water’; vaccine doses are a tiny fraction of a teaspoon. And they already do receive their shots over multiple doctor visits, not a single visit as Trump repeatedly said or suggested."

While medical professionals called out the inaccuracies of Trump's claims, others shared a reminder of his vaccine 'poison' post from last year.
Truth Social/@realDonaldTrump
Many commenters also took umbrage with Trump’s claim that he “believes in vaccines,” turning to his Truth Social archives to dig out a particular gem from last year.
On Sept. 8, 2025, Trump shared a clip of scientists working on vaccine creation and talking about medical products. “They’re ALL poison. Every. Single. One,” the video’s caption stated. The post is still live on the president’s page.
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