The CDC will study the potential link between vaccines and autism, sources have revealed.
Two sources told Reuters the agency is planning a large study into the long disproven connection.
It is unclear whether newly appointed health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has long been skeptical of vaccines, is involved in the planned study or how it would be carried out.
The CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) could not immediately be reached for comment.
The bombshell move comes amid one of the largest measles outbreaks in US history, with more than 150 cases across the country and two deaths in Texas and New Mexico.
Experts believe the outbreak has been fueled by declining vaccination rates in parts of the US.
Kennedy, whose role includes authority over the CDC, has long sowed doubt over the safety of the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, along with Covid shots made by Pfizer and Moderna.
However, he did make a U-turn move earlier this week when he urged people to get the shot to prevent measles.
The CDC said this week it will look into the potential link between autism and vaccines, despite the theories being long disproven. The above image shows an MMR vaccine being prepared in Texas, where a measles outbreak surges
HHS secretary Robert F Kennedy has long been critical of vaccine safety and has repeated debunked claims on vaccines and autism. It’s unclear if he will be involved in the new CDC study
But in doing so, Kennedy also said vaccination was a ‘personal’ choice for parents.
President Donald Trump, in an address to Congress this week, cited the rise in autism among children. ‘There’s something wrong,’ he said.
He said, referring to Kennedy: ‘So, we´re going to find out what it is, and there´s nobody better than Bobby and all of the people that are working with you.’
Health experts have slammed the CDC’s decision to investigate the link and have claimed RFK Jr ‘is not focusing on the health of this country’ as vaccination rates plummet and the measles outbreak worsens.
Autism diagnoses have surged in the US, going from seven in 1,000 in the early 2000s to one in 36 in 2022, the latest data available.
Experts have cited increased awareness and better diagnostic processes for the rise in diagnoses.
Andrew Wakefield, pictured here, authored a since debunked study claiming the MMR vaccine causes autism. It helped fuel an mass anti vaxx movement
However, some recent studies have shown growing pollution and chemical contamination in food and water may allow toxins to infiltrate the bloodstream of pregnant mothers and travel to the brain of the developing fetus, causing inflammation that impairs nerve signals that lead to autism.
Studies have also linked autism to maternal factors in pregnancy, and some research suggests a link to birth complications and timing.
Some experts have also speculated a surge in pesticide use may also be responsible for lower IQs and delays in children.
The idea that vaccines are to blame, however, stems from a since-debunked study from British researcher Andrew Wakefield in the late 1990s.
The researcher, whose credentials have since been revoked, connected a rise in autism diagnoses with widespread use of the MMR shot.
However, the government’s research library, PubMed, has more than 1,000 studies disproving the link between vaccines and autism.
Dr Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, told DailyMail.com ‘there are many promising leads’ behind the rise of autism, but ‘vaccines are not a promising lead.’
‘The question has been answered again and again and again,’ he said. ‘This [study] will do nothing for children with autism and only increase the risk of vaccine preventable diseases.’
Dr Offit expressed concern about the growing measles outbreak and said reopening the door to research like Wakefield’s could lead to MMR vaccination rates dropping further, worsening case loads and deaths.
‘[The outbreak] is not trivial. I have to believe this outbreak is much worse than people are saying in terms of the number of cases.
‘And that’s what we should be looking at. We have an under-vaccinated population, especially in certain pockets, and now we have two people who have died unnecessarily.’
Kennedy´s anti-vaccine views have also drawn concern among some Republicans.
During Kennedy´s confirmation hearing Senator Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican and physician, suggested that the nominee disavow any links between vaccines and autism.
Kennedy denied that he was anti-vaccine, but did not acknowledge that such a link had been debunked.
This week Cassidy questioned Trump´s nominee to lead the National Institutes of Health, Dr Jay Bhattacharya, over his stance on investigating a potential link between autism and childhood vaccinations.
Dr Bhattacharya said: ‘I don’t generally believe there is a link, based on my reading of the literature.
‘But we do have a sharp rise in autism rates, and I don’t think any scientist really knows the cause of it. I would support a broad scientific agenda based on data to get an answer to that.’
