Did CDC hide proof that Hep B vaccines cause autism?

In an interview with Tucker Carlson, RFK Jr. claims that a study found vaccines increased autism risk and that officials hid or changed the results to cover it up.

RFK Jr. is likely talking about an early study from the CDC’s Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) project. This study was led by a researcher named Thomas Verstraeten in 1999 and was approved by the CDC.

The Vaccine Safety Datalink is a system that tracks possible side effects from vaccines. It includes data from more than 12 million people. Researchers use this data to check if vaccines might be linked to health problems.

In this early study, researchers looked at whether the hepatitis B vaccine, which is given to babies, might be connected to developmental issues like autism. Here are some important points to understand:

• The first results showed a possible link, but the study was still early and not complete.
• When researchers studied the data again using better methods and more complete information, the link went away.
• A final study published in 2003 found no evidence that the hepatitis B vaccine causes autism.

So, even though the study and researcher are real, the early results were not final. The full scientific process showed that there was no connection.

Hepatitis B vaccination programs, including giving the vaccine at birth, have helped lower the number of hepatitis B cases around the world. Vaccinating newborns helps stop the spread of the disease and reduces related health problems.

Some claims say that a substance called thimerosal in the hepatitis B vaccine caused a rise in autism cases in the mid-1990s. There are problems with this claim.

First, studies show that thimerosal does not increase the risk of autism. Also, thimerosal has not been used in childhood vaccines since 2001. Second, autism diagnoses kept going up even after thimerosal was removed. This increase is mostly due to better awareness and changes in how autism is diagnosed.