As you’ve probably heard by now, a lot of people are deeply concerned about Donald Trump’s selection of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to run the Department of Health and Human Services on account of Kennedy’s anti-vaccine views—which include the debunked idea that childhood vaccines can cause autism. They’re worried about the situation not only because Kennedy’s embrace of such a claim clearly shows him rejecting scientific evidence, but also because said vaccines are important in preventing children from contracting preventable diseases. Yet Kennedy is not the only Trump-nominated potential health official who has spent years spreading the idea that some vaccines can cause autism: Dave Weldon, Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has too.
The Washington Post reports that Weldon—a physician and former congressman whom anti-vaccine activists wanted to lead the CDC during Trump’s first term—has a “record of promoting the disproven link between vaccines and autism in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence attesting to the safety and efficacy of vaccines.” That record, the outlet notes, “raises concerns among some public health experts about his ability to run the CDC,” given the fact that, should he be confirmed, “Weldon could undermine confidence in the lifesaving shots at a time when infectious disease threats such as measles and whooping cough are on the rise.”
During a hearing in Congress in 2002, Weldon suggested the CDC was not being transparent about vaccine safety, saying: “Until we get a free and open dialogue within the scientific community, I don’t think, for one, I will ever be satisfied that there isn’t some data suggesting that some children may have serious side effects from some of these vaccines that is really going undetected, unnoticed, and they may actually cause autism.” Several years later, during an event at an autism treatment center, he said that as he began to “look into this subject” of autism, he “subsequently learned that there were many people in the research community saying the incidence was skyrocketing. Certainly my personal observation was that it appeared to be increasing.” (As the Post notes, “researchers attribute the rising prevalence of autism spectrum disorder to environmental and genetic factors as well as increased access to early diagnoses and interventions.”) According to Josh Sharfstein, a former Democratic staff member who worked on the House Government Reform Committee, Weldon was “absolutely and completely dismissive” of data disproving a link between vaccines and autism during his time in Congress. Weldon, Sharfstein told the Post, “appeared to have a closed mind on the issue.”
Not surprisingly, Weldon continued to promote the debunked connection between vaccines and autism after leaving Congress. Per the Post:
