Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.) said Sunday that he does not “connect” autism and vaccines in the wake of five top officials’ exit at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“The science has debunked links between autism and vaccines for more than 20 years,” NBC News’s Kristen Welker said on “Meet the Press.”
“Oh no, I agree,” Lankford cut in. “I don’t — I don’t connect those two. Yeah, I don’t — I don’t connect those two at all. But there are reasonable questions to say, ‘Why do we have more cases of autism here? What is it?’ But I don’t think they’re connected to vaccines.”
The rapid departures of five top CDC officials has rattled the public health community, with top experts and organizations warning it may leave the U.S. not ready for future outbreaks and pandemics.
In one day, four important leaders of the CDC announced they would step away from their roles in the wake of the ouster of CDC Director Susan Monarez shortly after her confirmation.
On Thursday, the Trump administration said the CDC needs to be in line with the president’s “Make America Healthy Again” (MAHA) agenda.
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has expressed skepticism towards vaccines in the past, has long claimed that environmental factors, or vaccines, are likely behind the increase in autism diagnoses.
Kennedy recently vowed that the agency will soon reveal the cause of autism.
“We will have announcements as promised in September, finding interventions, certain interventions, now that are clearly almost certainly causing autism,” Kennedy said during a Cabinet meeting Tuesday. “And we’re going to be able to address those in September.”
Many experts suggest the growing autism diagnosis rate is more likely due to improved autism detection and broadened criteria over the years.
