Green party presidential candidate Jill Stein has sought to quash a “ridiculous” perception that she is anti-vaccines, during a televised town hall meeting where she denounced both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton.



Stein, a Massachusetts physician, has recently been plagued by accusations that she rejects the mainstream scientific view that vaccines are fundamentally safe. She has said that there are “real questions” about corporate influence over vaccines and that there is “widespread distrust of the medical-industrial complex”.

But in a CNN town hall event on Wednesday, Stein said her statements have been taking out of context and that previous concerns over mercury in vaccines have now been resolved.

“I think there’s kind of an effort to divert the conversation from our actual agenda, because the idea that I oppose vaccines is completely ridiculous, or that I’m anti-science,” Stein said.

“I am certainly not hostile to science. I’m not anti-science. I believe that asking questions is part of our responsibility as scientists. And as physicians, we always need to be asking those questions.”

Stein spent much of the televised question-and-answer session lambasting Trump and in particular Clinton, stating that she will “have trouble sleeping at night” if either the Republican or Democratic candidate is elected.

“As despicable as Donald Trump’s words are, I find Hillary Clinton’s actions and track record is very troubling,” she said. “So Donald Trump, you know, bashes immigrants and is a xenophobic and racist loudmouth, but Hillary Clinton, you know, has been promoting these wars that have killed a million black and brown people in Iraq, for example.

“The Democratic Party has become the party of deportation and detentions and night raids with, you know, millions of people deported under Barack Obama.”

Stein said Clinton’s use of a private email server while secretary of state violated rules “with a sense of impunity”, and she accused the Democratic candidate of organizing a “smear” against erstwhile opponent Bernie Sanders.

“Bernie did everything right, and his supporters did everything right, but the playing field was really steeply and unfairly tilted against you,” said Stein, who has actively courted Sanders supporters and the man himself, even offering to stand aside as the Green party candidate in favor of him.

“Many people have looked to us from Bernie’s campaign as Plan B, so that if they ran into trouble, they could continue building this revolutionary campaign, but now all the stronger for being inside of a revolutionary party that supports the work that you’re doing and will continue to build it until we prevail.”

Stein said her campaign is largely aimed at 43 million young people who would benefit from her policy of abolishing student debt through the Federal Reserve. The Green party candidate also wants the US to transition to 100% renewable energy by 2030, introduce a single-payer public health insurance program, establish a $15-an-hour federal minimum wage and slash military spending by “at least” 50%.

Stein said her running mate, activist Ajamu Baraka, is an “inspirational and passionate advocate for justice and for human rights”. But Baraka, who also appeared at the town hall, was questioned over his previous description of Barack Obama as an “uncle Tom”.

Baraka said he used the term to “sort of shock people into a more critical look at this individual. And that’s how I did it. And I stand by that, even though it sounds very inflammatory, and provocative, and probably very strange to this massive audience here tonight.”

Baraka also warned that “we’re going to have to deal with Donald Trump even after the election, win or lose, because he is appealing to a social base that is prepared to continue to embrace some of the darker side of humanity”.

“His appeal to folks who embrace xenophobia, racism, his bigotry around religion, the unfortunate reality is that it has resonated with some elements of the society,” Baraka said.

Stein’s initial goal is to break through 15% in opinion polling in order to take the stage with Trump and Clinton during the presidential debates. This appears to be an optimistic target, however, given that recent polling puts the Green party candidate under 5%.

A new Public Policy Polling survey of Texas voters found that Stein is tied with Harambe, a western lowland gorilla shot and killed at Cincinnati zoo in May, at 2%.