The Latest: RFK Jr. to chair commission on vaccine safety

Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President-elect Donald Trump (all times EST):

2:35 p.m.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr, a vocal vaccination skeptic, says President-elect Donald Trump has asked him to chair a commission on vaccine safety.

Trump has also voiced doubts about vaccinations, tweeting in the past that he knew a child who developed autism after receiving immunizations. He did not supply evidence for that claim.

He also has advocated for children to get smaller doses of vaccines spread out over time.

Scientists have debunked the link between vaccines and autism. But Kennedy, the son of the late U.S. attorney general, believes there is connection and has advocated for parents to be allowed to opt out of vaccinations for their children.

Kennedy said Trump invited him to the meeting Tuesday in New York.

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1 p.m.

Vice President Joe Biden and his wife, Jill, will head home to Delaware after Donald Trump's inauguration in the same way that Biden has been traveling to his home state for 44 years: by train. The vice president tweeted the news Tuesday, along with a photo of him walking alongside a train with his arm around an Amtrak conductor.

After leaving office, Biden plans to start an organization to work on changing the way the nation conducts cancer research and provides care to those with the disease.

The White House earlier announced that President Barack Obama will be leaving town after the inauguration with one last ride on the plane that's known as Air Force One when a president is aboard.

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11:35 a.m.

President-elect Donald Trump is meeting Tuesday with Robert F. Kennedy Jr, a vocal vaccination skeptic, about immunizations and vaccinations.

Kennedy, son of former Attorney General and New York Sen. Robert Kennedy, is an environmental activist and heads the Waterkeeper group to protect rivers.

He's a vocal advocate for the belief that trace amounts of minerals in vaccines cause autism, a claim for which there is no evidence.

Trump has also expressed skepticism about vaccines. He has previously met with vaccination critics and in 2014 tweeted "Healthy young child goes to doctor, gets pumped with massive shot of many vaccines, doesn't feel good and changes - AUTISM. Many such cases!"

The claim has been denounced as dangerous by doctors.