(NewsNation) — Officials confirmed this weekend that the Centers for Disease Control will conduct a large-scale study to examine if there’s a causal link between vaccines and autism spectrum disorder.
Despite hundreds of worldwide clinical trials and studies revealing no link, the Trump administration, including President Donald Trump himself and Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has vowed to prove causation.
The CDC conducted two previous investigations, confirming past scientific studies.
Measles outbreak rises to 208 cases
The news comes amid one of the largest measles outbreaks the United States has seen in years.
The outbreak is centered in West Texas largely among unvaccinated individuals. As of March 7, 208 cases have been reported, and 10 of those are in New Mexico, according to the CDC.
At least two people have died, both of whom were unvaccinated. One of them was a school-aged child.
A Health and Human Services spokesperson said the CDC is delivering on the transparency Americans expect.
During his joint address to Congress last week, Trump touched on the topic of autism and the increase in the number of children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.
“Not long ago, and you can’t even believe these numbers, 1 in 10,000 children had autism (in the past),” he said in the address. “And now it’s 1 in 36 something. One in 36.”
“We’re going to find out what it is, and there’s nobody better than Bobby (RFK Jr.) and all of the people that are working with you,” Trump continued.
Scientists have said the increase in autism cases is a result of increased awareness of the disorder and ongoing changes in the way that doctors diagnose it.
RFK Jr.’s vaccine skepticism
Vaccine skepticism was one of the cornerstones of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign, and he continues to hold those beliefs.
During his Congressional confirmation hearing for the HHS position, RFK Jr. was grilled on his approach to vaccines.
“Vaccines do not cause autism. Do you agree with that?” Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., asked.
“As I said, I’m not going to go into HHS with any preordained –” RFK Jr. said before Sanders cut him off.
“Bobby, studies all over the world say it does not. What do you think?” Sanders said in an impassioned tone, later calling RFK Jr.’s responses “troubling.”
He claimed he is not “anti-vaccines.” Rather, he said he is “pro-safety.”
RFK Jr. did recommend that parents consult with their doctors about vaccinating their children for measles, saying, “Vaccines not only protect individual children from measles but also contribute to community immunity, protecting those who are unable to be vaccinated due to medical reasons,” Kennedy said in an op-ed for Fox Digital.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, who was diagnosed with polio as a child, has attributed the eradication of the disease to vaccinations.
Meanwhile, Trump’s nominee for CDC director, Dr. Dave Weldon, who is a physician, is scheduled for Senate committee hearings this week. Some senators have already expressed their concerns over his views on vaccines as well.
5th anniversary of COVID-19
This also comes as the fifth anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic approaches this week.
More than 800,000 people died in the U.S. alone.
Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease specialist and senior scholar at John Hopkins Center for Health Security, called the COVID-19 vaccine “one of the greatest scientific achievements in modern history.”
By December 2020, nine months after the shutdown, a vaccine was created.
“The anti-vaccine movement was poised to jump even if this would have taken two years, they would have attacked it,” Adalja said. “Every vaccine that we’ve developed, even if it’s been something that’s taken years to develop, like, for example, the HPV vaccines like Gardasil, they’ve attacked those.”
On the measles outbreak, Adalja said to NewsNation’s “Morning in America with Hena Doba,” that it is to be expected when vaccination rates fall.
“Measles is kind of the canary in the coal mine. It’s the first infectious disease that kind of roars back when vaccination rates fall because it’s so contagious,” he said.
On the CDC investigation: “This wastes a lot of resources. This is going to cost millions and millions of dollars, and it also puts doubt in people’s minds that this link has not been completely disputed.”
