California and three other US states on Tuesday denounced the “dangerous misinformation” of the Donald Trump administration indicating a link between vaccines and autism, stressing that it “threatens the health security” of the United States.
Since his return to power, Donald Trump has appointed Robert Kennedy Jr., who is known for his anti-vaccine stances and promotion of conspiracy theories, as Secretary of Health.
Robert Kennedy Jr. launched a profound reform of US health agencies by laying off a large number of employees and cutting the budget, and promised to identify the causes of what he called the “epidemic” of autism.
Last week, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the country’s main health agency, modified its website in line with the minister’s views.
Now, for example, the site suggests a possible link between vaccines and autism. The scientific community denounced this, and some specialists in this disease accused the Trump administration of returning to the “Middle Ages” by ignoring science.
The states of California, Oregon, Hawaii and Washington joined the wave of condemnations.
These four Democratic states, which formed a “health coalition” in September to propose their own guidelines, said in a statement that they were “deeply concerned” by the CDC deviation and advised American parents to continue vaccinating their children.
She noted that “the lack of consistent, science-based federal leadership poses a direct threat to our country’s health security,” and stated that the number of measles infections had reached “record levels under the Trump administration since America eliminated the disease in 2000.”
The false theory linking autism to the vaccine given to children against measles, mumps, and rubella comes from a fabricated study published in 1998, then withdrawn and repeatedly refuted.
The statement stressed that “meticulous research conducted on millions of people in many countries over decades provides strong evidence that vaccines are not linked to autism.”
“Americans deserve public health advice based on science, not personal opinions,” California Governor Gavin Newsom said in the statement. He added, “The coalition (…) will continue to follow science, not conspiracy theories and outdated ideas.”