RFK Jr and the fake vaccine-autism connection


The alleged connection between vaccines and autism maps to a since-retracted British publication that faked data purporting to show that vaccines containing the methylmercury-based preservative thimerosal were associated with autism in children. Thimerosal was discontinued in US childhood vaccines in 2001. Since then, the anti-vaxxers have noted that autism diagnoses have increased, which would seem to falsify the vaccine-autism mechanism. But anti-vaxxers, led by RFK Jr, can’t admit that they were fooled. Since they can’t blame thimerosal, they just blame the vaccines themselves. The unqualified Trump-appointed HHS secretary RFK Jr, unable to admit his mistakes, has doubled down.

“The CDC report undercuts claims by Kennedy and Trump, instead attributing the recent increase to better screening. The report used 2022 data to examine cohorts of 4-year-old and 8-year-old children in 16 communities. It focused on the prevalence of autism among 8-year-olds, who are more likely to have been diagnosed by that age, using 4-year-old children as a measure of early detection.

“Research has not demonstrated that living in certain communities puts children at greater risk for developing ASD,” the report said, using the acronym for autism spectrum disorders. “Differences in the prevalence of children identified with ASD across communities might be due to differences in availability of services for early detection and evaluation and diagnostic practices.”

 

“Areas with the highest autism rates also devoted resources to early detection, the report noted.”

People who know about autism know that the diagnosis of autism in children—as with many aspects of modern medicine—has evolved as knowledge has improved. The result has been that many children who went undiagnosed are now receiving the proper diagnosis. There’s no evidence that the incidence of autism has increased; what’s increased is the number of diagnoses. That’s a win for the kids, their parents and US public health. Blaming the increase on vaccines is misdirection based not on science but on CYA by RFK Jr and his anti-vaxxer supporters. It’s an attack on the health of American children.

 

https://www.bostonglobe.com/2025/04/16/nation/trump-presidency-live-updates/

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