Sen. Bernie Sanders,I-Vt., is urging Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD, R-La., chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, to hold a hearing on vaccine misinformation and autism.
Mr. Sanders, the ranking member of the senate committee, called on Dr. Cassidy to address what he described as misinformation linking vaccines to autism and to reaffirm that vaccines are “safe and effective and do not cause autism,” according to a March 17 news release from Mr. Sanders’ office.
The request follows several actions by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., including directing the CDC to publish information suggesting a link between childhood vaccines and autism, replacing members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and appointing 21 nonfederal members to the National Institutes of Health’s Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee.
In a letter to Dr. Cassidy, Mr. Sanders wrote, “You have correctly said: ‘I’m a doctor who has seen people die from vaccine-preventable diseases. What parents need to hear right now is vaccines for measles, polio, hepatitis B and other childhood diseases are safe and effective and will not cause autism. Any statement to the contrary is wrong, irresponsible and actively makes Americans sicker.’ I could not agree more with that assessment. Unfortunately, Health and Human Services Secretary Kennedy and many others inside the Trump administration do not.”
Mr. Sanders cited more than 40 scientific studies conducted in seven countries involving over 5.6 million people that found no link between vaccines and autism.
He said a hearing would help ensure the public receives information based on scientific evidence rather than misinformation.
Read the full letter here.
