Green Party candidate: I’m not anti-vaccine

Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein on Friday pushed back against accusations that she opposes vaccines.

{mosads}”I’m not anti-vax,” Stein said, according to Bloomberg Politics.

The Green Party candidate said she is aware of the “critical importance” of vaccines, adding that “we need an FDA [Food and Drug Administration] which the public can trust.”

Stein said there is a “smear campaign” looking to label her as an anti-vaccine candidate.

“This is the new birther campaign that’s being used against my campaign because certain people are rather worried,” she said.

Stein said last month people have “real questions” about the safety of vaccines. She noted people are skeptical of vaccines because they don’t trust the FDA and the government at large.

“As a medical doctor, there was a time where I looked very closely at those issues, and not all those issues were completely resolved,” Stein said about potentially harmful side effects from vaccinations in an interview with The Washington Post.

“There were concerns among physicians about what the vaccination schedule meant, the toxic substances like mercury which used to be rampant in vaccines. There were real questions that needed to be addressed. I think some of them at least have been addressed. I don’t know if all of them have been addressed.”

Stein also said Friday her fundraising shot up 1,000 percent when Bernie Sanders ended his presidential campaign and endorsed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.

The Green Party candidate added she is looking to get “at least a plurality” of the vote in November, calling Clinton and GOP nominee Donald Trump the “most disliked and untrusted candidates for president in our history.”