ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) – The Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will launch a study into the potential connection between autism and vaccines, according to Reuters and multiple other news outlets.
This comes despite multiple studies finding no link between the two.
“There is no connection between autism and vaccines. I can say this confidently because this question has been studied before exhaustively,” said Dr. M.G. Finn, biochemist at Georgia Tech University.
Finn, who develops vaccines as part of his research, said this study could come at the detriment of other needed studies.
“If the CDC wants to study this, that’s great. Because if people have doubts about it, why not study it? That’s perfectly appropriate,” Finn said in an interview with Atlanta News First. “It would be a shame if the resources devoted to that study, the subject of which has been extensively studied, were taken away from studying other, perhaps more pressing concerns.”
Finn spoke with Atlanta News First outside his capacity as university professor.
“As President Trump said in his joint address to Congress, the rate of autism in American children has skyrocketed. CDC will leave no stone unturned in its mission to figure out what exactly is happening,” said Benjamin Haynes, spokesperson for the CDC, in a statement to Atlanta News First.
“The American people expect high quality research and transparency and that is what CDC is delivering,” Haynes continued.
Haynes could not confirm if the CDC launched an official study into the connection between autism and vaccines.
Right now, the CDC’s website says there is no connection between vaccines and autism.
“Many studies have looked at whether there is a relationship between vaccines and ASD [autism spectrum disorder]. To date, the studies continue to show that vaccines are not associated with ASD,” according to an FAQ section.
A 2010 study by the CDC found the same.
According to the conclusion of the study, “…prenatal and infant exposure to vaccines and immunoglobulins that contain thimerosal does not increase risk for autism spectrum disorder (ASD).”
Atlanta News First reached out to the White House and to the CDC for confirmation of the study, but did not hear back on Friday.
Dr. Carlos del Rio, Emory professor, was especially critical as the CDC faces threats of cuts by the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).
“If we are really serious about taking waste out of the system, we don’t do this study,” said Dr. del Rio. “DOGE ought have not allowed this study. There is no link between vaccines and autism.”
Del Rio cautioned that launching this study could lead to hesitancy for families deciding whether to vaccinate their children.
“Hesitancy is going to be a challenge and it requires talking to the community, but it does not require doing studies that are not needed,” he said.
The study comes amid one of the largest measles outbreaks in the U.S., fueled by declining vaccine rates.
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