The idea that autism is caused by vaccines has recently been revived by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the presumptive nominee for US Secretary of Health and Human Services, as well as by president-elect Donald Trump. When asked about vaccines at a recent press conference, Trump reportedly said there was “something wrong” with rising autism rates, adding: “We’re going to find out about it.”
From a research perspective, there is little left to discover about vaccines used in long-standing nationwide vaccine programmes, such as diphtheria, tetanus, whooping cough, polio, measles, mumps and rubella. There is strong data from different countries showing that these vaccines do not cause autism or underlie the vast increase in autism diagnosis rates. So why do suspicions that vaccines cause autism remain?
