Kennedy, Vaccine Skeptic and Secretary of Health, Makes Bold Promise
Experts Express Concern Over Baseless Vaccine Skepticism
Robert Kennedy Jr., the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services known for his vaccine skepticism, has declared that he will identify the cause of autism within five months.
On the 11th (local time), U.S. media outlets including CNN and The New York Times (NYT) reported that Secretary Kennedy said at a cabinet meeting held at the White House the previous day, "We have launched a large-scale testing and research project involving hundreds of scientists worldwide to identify the cause of the autism epidemic by September."
Secretary Kennedy assured then-President Donald Trump, "By September, we will know the cause of autism." President Trump agreed with Kennedy, adding, "Perhaps a shot is the cause."
U.S. media reported that the "shot" mentioned by President Trump appears to imply vaccination, which Kennedy has long claimed to be linked to autism.
Concerns have been raised that, as he has previously asserted, he might reach an unscientific conclusion that vaccines cause autism.
Earlier, Secretary Kennedy instructed the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) last month to study the relationship between vaccines and autism.
He cited statistics showing that the proportion of children with autism in the U.S. has increased from 1 in 150 in 2000 to 1 in 31 recently, viewing the autism epidemic as severe, and claimed that the incidence of autism is higher among those vaccinated.
Peter Marks, director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), responsible for vaccines, reportedly resigned recently in protest. In his resignation letter, he criticized, "It has become clear that the Secretary does not want truth and transparency, but only obedience to his misinformation and lies."
Subsequently, David Gayer, who has claimed that vaccines cause autism and presented himself as a vaccine expert, was appointed as the senior data analyst at the Department of Health and Human Services.
In response, Dr. Urva Hertz-Piciotto of the MIND Institute at the University of California, Davis, who has researched the causes of autism for over 20 years, dismissed the Department of Health and Human Services' plan as "absurd."
The Autism Society of America stated in a press release, "What is needed is rigorous, scientifically based research, not speculation or overly abbreviated plans."
Joe Gross, head of the Autism Advocacy Network, pointed out, "They are not approaching the question of what causes autism with an open mind, but are proceeding with the idea of proving that autism is caused by a specific factor."
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