The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will study whether the vaccine causes autism, although many studies have shown no relationship.
Spokesman HHS Andrew Nixon confirmed the effort in a statement overnight, said the agency planned to leave “No stone missed.”
“As President Trump said in his speech at the congress, the level of autism in American children had skyrocketed. The CDC would not leave the stone that was missed in its mission to find out what really happened,” the statement said. “The American people expect high -quality research and transparency and that is what the CDC has given.”
Nixon did not answer questions about how this research will be conducted and how it will be different from many peer-review studies that have been published.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Secretary of the United States Health and Humanitarian Services, has made money through books and speeches that underestimate the safety of vaccines and he refused to say during the audience confirmation that the vaccine did not cause autism even though many high -quality studies did not find such a relationship.
File – sign marking the entrance to the Federal Disease Control and Prevention Center (CDC) in Atlanta, on October 8, 2013 (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)
David Goldman/AP
He stated that during the trial that the level of autism had “changed from 1 in 10,000 … and today in our children, it was one of 34.” His claim has been repeated by President Donald Trump on social truth.
It is not clear where Kennedy gets statistics 1 in 10,000. In 2000, around 1 in 150 children in the US born in 1992 were diagnosed with autism compared to 2020, where one in 36 children born in 2012 were diagnosed, according to data from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
Only last month after confirmation as HHS secretary, Kennedy said that he plans to “investigate” whether childhood vaccination and anti-depressive drugs are among several “possible factors” in state matters with chronic diseases.
“Nothing will be forbidden,” Kennedy said at the time.
It is accurate that around 1 in 36 children in the US have autism, and the rates have risen over time. The possibility of a sincere increase in the level of autism in the US, but another reason for the prevalence of autism increases is because doctors and parents become better in identifying and diagnosing autism in children.
The cause of autism is complex and is still explored. Many children with autism can be associated with genetic differences. Separately, the risk seems higher among children who experience complications at birth, and those born to older parents. For others, the cause is unknown.
ABC News’ Mary Kekatos contributes to this report.