Trump: Maybe RFK Jr. Could Look Into Vaccine-Autism Link

Both have a history of promoting the long-debunked claim
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Dec 9, 2024 1:00 AM CST
Updated Dec 9, 2024 4:03 AM CST
Trump Suggests RFK Jr. Will Probe Debunked Vaccine-Autism Link
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. arrives before President-elect Donald Trump speaks during an America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla.   (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Assuming Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is confirmed as President-elect Trump's Health and Human Services secretary, it appears he may be utilizing that role to delve into the idea—long-debunked—of a connection between vaccines and autism. Kennedy has long pushed the theory, and Trump has done the same since as early as 2014, the New York Times reports. And Trump was talking about it again recently: When RFK Jr.'s infamous vaccine skepticism was brought up during the president-elect's Sunday appearance on NBC's Meet the Press, Trump said, "I think somebody has to find out." He said autism diagnoses are on the rise, which he believes means "something is going on" and he's "open to anything" in terms of what Kennedy might have HHS investigate.

"I don't know if it's vaccines," Trump continued. "Maybe it's chlorine in the water, right? You know, people are looking at a lot of different things." Experts, however, say the rise in autism diagnoses (one in 36 US kids today has been diagnosed with autism, compared to one in 150 in 2000) can be attributed to greater awareness of autism spectrum disorder, and improvements in identifying kids who have symptoms. As for the idea that vaccines cause autism, that started with a flawed 1998 study that has since been discredited and retracted (and the British doctor who ran it barred from practicing medicine in the UK), and numerous studies since then have found no link between vaccines and autism. That study specifically targeted the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine (MMR), and in the Sunday interview, Trump insisted he's "not against vaccines" as a rule.

"The polio vaccine is the greatest thing," he said. "If somebody told me, 'Get rid of the polio vaccine,' they're going to have to work real hard to convince me. I think vaccines are—certain vaccines—are incredible, but maybe some aren't." Experts who recently spoke to NPR expressed concerns that under this administration, diseases like measles and whooping cough could see a resurgence. Meanwhile, in other recent RFK Jr. coverage, the test he's apparently having people take if they want to work at HHS is getting quite a bit of attention, Slate reports. The assessment was reportedly developed by a company run by Jordan Peterson, "the psychologist turned right-wing gadfly," as Slate puts it. (More Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stories.)

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