The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention intend to do a large study to examine a possible connection between autism and childhood vaccines, in spite of there being a substantial body of research showing that vaccines and autism are not linked. By revisiting debunked theories that connect autism to the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine, this could undermine the public’s confidence and lead to further vaccine hesitancy.
More than a quarter century ago, s small study by a (former) gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield and colleagues suggested a link between the MMR vaccine —used to protect children from a variety of serious or potentially fatal diseases—and autism spectrum disorder, a condition related to abnormal brain development that causes problems in social interaction and communication.
Wakefield et al.’s paper in The Lancet described 12 children who had intestinal abnormalities after receiving the MMR vaccination. For eight of the 12 children, parents linked the onset of behavioral symptoms to the vaccine. Wakefield and co-authors hypothesized that intestinal inflammation after the MMR vaccine released gut proteins that eventually migrated to the brain, causing damage that was reflected in autism symptoms.
The study was reviewed further and retracted. It was a report of eight children who had developed signs and symptoms of autism within a month of receiving the MMR vaccine. With such a small sample and no control group there was no way of knowing whether autism was occurring at a level greater than would be expected by chance alone.
In addition to the retraction, Wakefield’s medical license was revoked due to falsified information.
Since then, numerous peer-reviewed studies have debunked a connection between autism and the MMR vaccine. A group of London-based researchers in 1999 found no epidemiological evidence for a causal association between autism and the MMR vaccine. And that conclusion has played out repeatedly in studies published in subsequent years. Perhaps the largest of its kind was a retrospective analysis that appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2002. It involved 537,000 Danish children and showed the risk of autism diagnosis was similar between those who received the MMR vaccine and those who did not. Additionally, the Journal of the American Medical Association published a study in 2015 that included an analysis of the health records of more than 95,000 children. Roughly 2,000 of those children were classified as at risk for autism because they had a sibling already diagnosed with autism. The study confirmed that the MMR vaccine did not increase the risk for autism spectrum disorder.
The existence of all this evidence raises the question why the CDC now wants to carry out another study. Asked for comment, the CDC did not immediately reply. But perhaps we can surmise why by assessing the views of the Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and the CDC director nominee, David Weldon, both of whom have repeatedly raised questions about the safety of MMR vaccines. If confirmed, Weldon would reinforce the vaccine-skeptic agenda that RFK Jr. is likely to pursue.
Weldon stirred controversy when he insinuated a link between the MMR shot and autism, citing the debunked theory put forward by Wakefield.
Such vaccine-skeptic views are a cause for concern in the public health community, the Guardian says. The messaging alone can fuel an uptick in childhood vaccine hesitancy. To illustrate, in the United Kingdom vaccinations took a considerable dip in the early 2000s after Wakefield’ false claims of a link between the MMR shot and autism were posted in the media.
Long after his work was exposed as fraudulent, Wakefield left a legacy of harm that persists even today, Vaccine hesitancy is rising again in the United States. Faltering vaccine coverage has contributed to the current outbreak in Texas and New Mexico.
Mass vaccination programs with single or combination shots began in the 1960s and quickly suppressed the spread of measles in most developed countries, including the U.S. which had declared measles eradicated in 2000. Moreover, the measles vaccine is “sterilizing,” which means it not only prevents illness, but also transmission. The World Health Organization estimates that worldwide immunization efforts targeting measles and other communicable diseases have saved at least 154 million lives over the past 50 years.
Ostensibly, Elon Musks’ Department of Government Efficiency aims to eliminate waste at agencies such as CDC. Cuts have already wreaked havoc at CDC and throughout other entities within HHS. Yet it would seem wasteful to have CDC spend money on a large study to prove something that has been demonstrated over and over again. Couldn’t these resources be used far more wisely elsewhere? Like, for instance, on studies to examine vaccine hesitancy and how to boost immunization coverage.
