U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Director Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) recently reiterated his claims suggesting that CDC research showed that the hepatitis B vaccine increased the risk of autism and that researchers concealed those findings. However, this claim has no evidence to support it and is bravely exposed.
What RFK Jr. argued:
In an interview with Tucker Carlson of RFK Jr., who has no medical background and has spent his professional legal career leading his professional legal career with healthcare companies, the CDC alleges that hepatitis B vaccines have conducted studies showing that hepatitis B vaccines increase the risk of autism.
The research, originally fuelled by false claims that the vaccine caused autism, was published in 1998 by Andrew Wakefield, a former British doctor, in the medical journal The Lancet, and eventually discovered Wakefield was lying about the study, and then finally retracted the paper, revealing that he had to file a lawsuit, which he had to pay for.
Important details
Study title: ilea lymph node hyperplasia, nonspecific colitis, and popular developmental disorders in children Author: Andrew Wakefield and 12 Co-authors Journal: Lancet (February 1998) Claims: We proposed a link between MMR (standard, manp, leveler) vaccines and autism. Wakefield was convicted of serious professional misconduct by the UK General Medical Council and was stripped of his medical license. Today is widely regarded as one of the most harmful examples of scientific fraud in modern medicine.
The Wakefield 1998 study is an infamous fraudulent article that began the myth that links vaccines to autism. This is an argument that has been fully trusted by decades of scientific evidence. Andrew Wakefield published a small study in the Lancet, suggesting a link between measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccines and autism. The problem was that he only saw 12 children in his study, did not include an appropriate control group and heavily relied on parents’ recollections at post-vaccination events. It was later revealed that Wakefield had serious conflicts of interest and manipulation data, leading to a complete withdrawal of the paper and a loss of his medical license. Despite being exposed, the study has produced widespread fear and vaccine reluctance that continues to this day.
While RFK Jr. is right that vaccines may contain trace amounts of aluminum, it is misleading to present that fact without noticing that infants naturally consume aluminum through breast milk and formulas than vaccines.
In contrast, Danish researchers conducted one of the largest and most in-depth vaccine safety studies ever published. They tracked 657,461 children born between 1999 and 2010, and they tracked them through the national health registration for over a decade. Unlike Wakefield’s anecdotal approach, this study used objective medical records rather than memory or self-report, comparing vaccinated and non-vaccinated children across the entire population. Researchers looked closely at children who are thought to be at higher risk for autism, such as those with siblings on the spectrum, to see if vaccinations in more vulnerable groups caused cases.
The results were clear. Children who received the MMR vaccine were less likely to develop autism than those who were not. There was no surge in post-vaccination diagnosis, no evidence of links in high-risk children, nor clustering of cases of autism during vaccination. Danish research has resulted in much more scientific weight than Wakefield’s unreliable work due to its large sample size, rigorous methodology, and long follow-up periods. Clearly, the difference is like comparing rumors based on 12 children in one clinic.
Hepatitis B is a liver infection caused by the hepatitis B virus. This virus is transmitted from people who come into contact with the blood, semen, or other body fluids of an infected person.
Newborns can become infected through the birth process or casual contact, as the virus can survive in the environment for about a week. Up to half of all older children, adolescents, and adults have symptoms of acute hepatitis. However, most children under the age of 5 do not have symptoms. Acute hepatitis B infection, a short-term disease, can lead to a lifelong infection known as chronic hepatitis B.
