Sources: CDC plans study into vaccine and autism
By: Dan Levine
and Leah Douglas
Reuters
..... The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is planning a large study into potential connections between vaccines and autism, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, despite extensive scientific research that has disproved or failed to find evidence of such links.
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It is unclear whether Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long promoted anti-vaccine views, is involved in the planned CDC study or how it would be carried out. The CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services were not immediately available for comment.
..... The CDC's move comes amid one of the largest measles outbreaks the U.S. has seen in the past decade, with more that 200 cases and two deaths in Texas and New Mexico. the outbreak has been fueled by declining vaccination rates in parts of the United States where parents have been falsely convinced that such shots do more harm that good.
..... Kennedy, whose role includes authority over the CDC has long sowed doubt over the safety of the combined vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella, known as the MMR shot. In a Cabinet meeting last month, [02/2025] Kennedy initially downplayed news hat a school-aged child had died of measles in Texas, the first such death in a decade, calling such outbreaks ordinary and failing to mention the role of vaccination to prevent measles.
.... Last week, [03/05/2025] published an opinion piece on Fox News that promoted the role of vaccination, but also told parents vaccinates was a personal choice and urged them to consult with their physician.
..... Kenny did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
..... President Donald Trump's nominee for CDC director, Dr. Dave Weldon, is set for a U.S. Senate committee hearing this week. [03/10-14/2025] Some senators have expressed concerns over Weldon's views on vaccines. Weldon declined to comment.
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Dr. Wilbur Chen, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and former member of the CDC's vaccine advisory panel, said the existent of such a study, conducted by the federal government, is itself enough to raise doubts about vaccines among some in the general public.
..... "It sends the signal hat there is something there that is worth investigating, so that means there must be something going on between vaccines and autism," Chen said.
..... Autism diagnoses in the U.S. have increased significantly since 2000, intensifying public concern.
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Many researchers attribute the rise in diagnoses to more widespread screening and the inclusion of a broader range of behaviors to describe the condition. But some public figures have popularized the idea that vaccines are to blame, an idea stemming form a since-debunked study form British researcher Andrew Wakefield in the late 1990s that connected a rise in autism diagnoses with widespread use of the MMR shot.
..... The causes of autism are unclear. No rigorous studies have found links between autism and vaccines or medications, or their components such as thimerosal or formaldehyde.