President Donald Trump appeared to assist the conspiracy concept that vaccines are linked to autism as he publicly reiterated his assist of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to steer the Division of Well being and Human Providers.
Kennedy has repeatedly refused to acknowledge the scientific consensus that childhood vaccines don’t trigger autism.
Whereas Trump didn’t straight hyperlink vaccines to autism, he stated that autism charges have elevated dramatically in 20 years and that “one thing’s actually unsuitable.”
In a publish on Fact Social, the president stated, “20 years in the past, Autism in youngsters was 1 in 10,000. NOW IT’S 1 in 34. WOW! One thing’s actually unsuitable. We’d like 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 Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, about 1 in 36 youngsters have 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 superior Kennedy’s nomination, shifting 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 research have debunked the hyperlink, and consultants say a part of the rise in autism diagnoses will be attributed to enhancements in docs’ talents to determine the situation.
The implications of a drop in childhood vaccinations will be lethal.
In 2019, an outbreak of measles devastated Samoa, the place vaccination charges have been traditionally low. Some 83 individuals have 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 along with his nonprofit group, instructed the Senate committee final week: “We don’t know what was killing them.” This declare was described as “a whole lie” by Samoa’s high well being official.
Throughout Kennedy’s affirmation hearings final week, Sen. Invoice Cassidy (R-La.), a health care provider, stated the science exhibits 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 stated he’d assist the vaccines if the info confirmed they have been secure. Cassidy responded that there’s no “if.”
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The information, Cassidy stated, “have been on the market for fairly a while and have been peer-reviewed, and it exhibits that these two vaccines should not related to autism.”
Regardless of this back-and-forth, Cassidy voted to advance Kennedy’s nomination on Tuesday.