President Donald Trump appeared to help the conspiracy idea that vaccines are linked to autism as he publicly reiterated his help of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to steer the Division of Well being and Human Companies.
Kennedy has repeatedly refused to acknowledge the scientific consensus that childhood vaccines don’t cause autism.
Whereas Trump didn’t straight hyperlink vaccines to autism, he mentioned that autism charges have elevated dramatically in 20 years and that “one thing’s actually mistaken.”
In a post on Truth Social, the president mentioned, “20 years in the past, Autism in youngsters was 1 in 10,000. NOW IT’S 1 in 34. WOW! One thing’s actually mistaken. We want BOBBY!!!”
It’s unclear which set of statistics Trump is referring to, however he seems to be exaggerating the rise lately.
In response to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 1 in 36 youngsters had been recognized with autism spectrum dysfunction in 2020. The determine stood at 1 in 150 in 2000.
Quickly after the publish, a key Senate committee advanced Kennedy’s nomination, transferring him a step nearer to affirmation.
For many years, the scientific group has labored to check the declare that vaccines trigger autism. Quite a few studies have debunked the hyperlink, and consultants say part of the rise in autism diagnoses might be attributed to enhancements in medical doctors’ talents to determine the situation.
The implications of a drop in childhood vaccinations might be lethal.
In 2019, an outbreak of measles devastated Samoa, the place vaccination charges had been traditionally low. Some 83 folks had been killed — principally youngsters beneath age 5 — in a inhabitants of round 200,000.
Kennedy, who visited the Pacific island nation months earlier than the outbreak together with his nonprofit group, advised the Senate committee final week: “We don’t know what was killing them.” This declare was described as “a complete lie” by Samoa’s prime well being official.
Throughout Kennedy’s confirmation hearings final week, Sen. Invoice Cassidy (R-La.), a health care provider, mentioned the science reveals that measles and different childhood vaccines are secure and never linked to autism — and skim aloud the scientific conclusions.
“Will you say unequivocally … and with out qualification, that the measles and hepatitis B vaccines don’t trigger autism?” Cassidy requested Kennedy.
Kennedy mentioned he’d help the vaccines if the info confirmed they had been secure. Cassidy responded that there’s no “if.”
Go Advert-Free — And Shield The Free Press
Already contributed? Log in to hide these messages.
The information, Cassidy mentioned, “have been on the market for fairly a while and have been peer-reviewed, and it reveals that these two vaccines will not be related to autism.”
Regardless of this back-and-forth, Cassidy voted to advance Kennedy’s nomination on Tuesday.
