Jay Bhattacharya, director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), said in a Senate hearing Tuesday that he has not seen any studies supporting the theory that any vaccines cause autism, a break from Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long speculated on a potential connection and has not discounted the possibility.
In a hearing held by the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, ranking member Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) pressed Bhattacharya on where he stood when it came to the vaccine-autism theory.
Bhattacharya first said he did not believe the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine causes autism. Sanders clarified that he was not asking about a specific vaccine but whether the NIH director believed any vaccines cause autism.
“I have not seen a study that suggests any single vaccine causes autism,” Bhattacharya said.
It was reported last week that Kennedy had completely overhauled a federal committee on autism, appointing several known vaccine critics as well as three new members with autism.
Noting this development, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) doubled down on this line of questioning and again asked Bhattacharya if he believed vaccines cause autism.
The NIH director reiterated that he hasn’t seen evidence that vaccines cause autism, adding, “When you’re studying anything like this, you can’t just say vaccines. You have to say vaccine-by-vaccine.”
He stated that several studies have established there is “no link” between MMR vaccinations and autism but said other vaccines are “less well studied.”
“That theory has been debunked by a broad set of studies with over a million children,” said Hassan. “And relitigating debunked theories about vaccines doesn’t get us closer to the answer of what causes autism.”
Kennedy has previously said he believes the mercury-containing preservative thimerosal in vaccines causes childhood neurological disorders, autism in particular. Most MMR vaccines no longer contain thimerosal and a federal vaccine advisory board remade by Kennedy last year voted to no longer recommend thimerosal-containing vaccines.
When confronted about these views during one of his confirmation hearings by HELP Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Kennedy remained adamant that a link between vaccines and autism had not been disproved.
