MONDAY, Dec. 9, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- If Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is approved to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, he will be free to revisit a long-debunked link between autism and childhood vaccines, President-elect Donald Trump said Sunday.
The remarks came during an exclusive interview with "Meet the Press."
“I think somebody has to find out,” Trump told moderator Kristen Welker. “If you go back 25 years ago, you had very little autism. Now you have it.”
The topic came up after Welker noted that studies have shown childhood vaccines prevent about 4 million deaths worldwide every year. Welker also noted that there's been no connection found between vaccines and autism, and increases in autism diagnoses are probably tied to greater screening and awareness of the developmental disorder.
Kennedy, a one-time independent presidential candidate who backed Trump after leaving the race, has criticized the American health care and food system for years. As the founder of the Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine group, Kennedy has repeatedly claimed that autism is likely linked to childhood vaccinations.
The agency that Trump has tapped Kennedy to run supports and funds both autism research and new vaccine development and research.
The now debunked link between autism and childhood vaccines was first claimed in 1998 by a British doctor who was later banned from practicing medicine. His research was found flawed and was subsequently retracted, NBC News reported.
Autism diagnoses have spiked from about 1 in 150 children in 2000 to 1 in 36 today, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Instead, scientists have reported on a strong genetic link to the complex disorder, along with other factors.
“Hey, look, I’m not against vaccines,” Trump said during the Sunday interview. “The polio vaccine is the greatest thing. 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. And if they aren’t, we have to find out. But when you talk about autism, because it was brought up, and you look at the amount we have today versus 20 or 25 years ago, it’s pretty scary.”
Trump added that “a lot of good things” are going to come from Kennedy’s leadership.
“He’s not going to upset any system,” Trump said. “He’s not looking to reinvent the wheel totally. But when you look at the numbers, we really don’t have a very healthy country.”
More information
The CDC has more on childhood vaccines.
SOURCE: NBC News