Donald Trump, the president-elect, proposed that Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his choice to lead Health and Human Services, look into purported connections between childhood immunizations and autism, a discredited association that has damaged confidence in the life-saving shots.
Trump stated in an exclusive interview with Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker, “I think somebody has to find out.” In a back-and-forth, Welker pointed out that research has demonstrated that children vaccinations avoid approximately 4 million deaths globally each year, that there is no link between vaccines and autism, and that increased screening and awareness are the reasons behind the surge in autism diagnoses. According to Trump, you had very little autism twenty-five years ago. You have it now.
“There’s something going on,” Trump continued. I’m not sure if it’s vaccinations. Perhaps the water contains chlorine? People are looking at many different things, you know. It was unclear if Trump was alluding to Kennedy and others’ resistance to the addition of fluoride to drinking water.
Kennedy’s broad mistrust of the American food and health care systems helped him garner a sizable following. Kennedy was a former independent presidential candidate who later embraced Trump. His unfounded assertions that childhood vaccines cause autism have been a significant part of that. Kennedy is the founder of Children’s Health Defense, a well-known anti-vaccine advocacy organization.
Trump has given him the responsibility of overseeing and funding autism research and potential new vaccines.
A British doctor who was later barred from practicing medicine in the United Kingdom initially asserted the disproved link between infant immunizations, specifically the mumps, measles, and rubella vaccines, and autism in 1998. His study was later retracted after it was discovered to have serious flaws. Vaccines for children are safe, according to hundreds of research.
Diagnoses of autism have increased from around 1 in 150 children in 2000 to 1 in 36 now, however researchers have attributed this increase to expanded screening and evolving criteria of the disorder. Many risk factors for the complicated condition occur before birth or during delivery, and scientists have discovered a strong genetic relationship to it.
For years, Trump has also implied a connection between vaccines and autism.
In the Welker interview, Trump stated, “Hey, look, I’m not against vaccines.” The best thing is the polio vaccine. Someone would have to put forth a lot of effort to persuade me to stop using the polio vaccine. I believe that while certain immunizations are amazing, some may not be. And we must discover if they aren’t. But it’s frightening when you discuss autism because it was brought up and you compare how much we have now to how much we had twenty or twenty-five years ago.
The remarks differ with Trump’s declaration that he would let him run wild on public health issues following Kennedy’s endorsement.
Trump went on to say that he believes Kennedy’s leadership will bring about a lot of positive outcomes. Kennedy hosted rallies throughout the campaign’s last stretch under the Make America Healthy Again banner, a catchphrase he has used to advocate for causes like lowering the power of pharmaceutical firms over government organizations, preventing childhood chronic illnesses, and enhancing food safety.
Trump stated he would not disrupt any system. He doesn’t intend to completely recreate the wheel. However, the statistics show that our nation is not very healthy.
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