Trump Talks About Vaccines, Drones in News Conference

President-elect Trump held a wide-ranging news conference on Monday in which he said he would preserve access to the polio vaccine but equivocated on other vaccines, pledged to look at bringing down the costs of pharmaceuticals, and expressed doubts that his daughter-in-law might be Florida's next senator. Trump held forth for over an hour, the first time he took questions from reporters since winning the election. The event was a stark contrast from President Biden, who doesn't often take questions from reporters, the AP reports. Some of what he touched on:

• Vaccines. Trump defended his choice for health secretary, prominent vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but said he personally is a "big believer" in the polio vaccine and would preserve access to it. "You're not going to lose the polio vaccine," he said. "That's not going to happen." Kennedy has long advanced the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism. Trump seemed to question whether there's a link, saying "We're looking to find out," and remarked on the rising cases of autism being diagnosed.

• Drones. Trump said he doubted that drone sightings over New Jersey were the work of a foreign power, but said the Biden administration should reveal everything it knows, CNN reports. "Something strange is going on—for some reason, they don't want to tell the people—and they should," he said.
• Drug prices. Trump described a dinner he had this month with Kennedy; Dr. Mehmet Oz , whom he's tapped to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; and top pharmaceutical executives in which they discussed drug prices. Trump heaped praise on the companies but said the high cost of health care was a focus of their dinner. "What came out of that meeting is that we're paying far too much," Trump said. Trump also hit pharmaceutical benefits managers, calling them "horrible middlemen" who drive up the cost of drugs.
• Lara Trump. Trump seemed skeptical that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would appoint his daughter-in-law to be senator, taking the seat held by Marco Rubio, who has been nominated for secretary of state. Asked whether he expected DeSantis to name Lara Trump to replace Rubio, Trump said, "I probably don't, but I don't know."

• Eric Adams. Trump said he would consider pardoning New York City Mayor Eric Adams on federal corruption charges. "I think that he was treated pretty unfairly," Trump said, per CNN. "Now I haven't seen the gravity of it all, but it seems, you know, like being upgraded in an airplane many years ago. I know probably everybody here has been upgraded/"
• TikTok. Trump indicated he would look at intervening in the potential ban of TikTok in the US. The popular social media platform must cut ties with its China-based parent company or be banned by mid-January under a federal law. He didn't offer specifics, but Trump credited the platform with helping him win the election. "We'll take a look at TikTok," he said. "You know, I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok."

(More President-elect Trump stories.)