President Trump has asked RFK Jr. to do a full review of the immunization schedule for children. Anti-vaxxers are happy, pointing out a study that claims countries giving babies more vaccines have higher autism rates, and argue the U.S. should give fewer infant vaccines like some other countries.

This study has not been peer reviewed, and no funding sources or conflict-of-interest statements were disclosed.

The study uses a cross-sectional ecological design. A cross-sectional ecological study on autism would compare whole countries at one moment in time, instead of looking at individual children. It can’t show whether the children who got vaccines are the same children who were later diagnosed with autism, so it cannot prove any cause-and-effect. Since countries differ in things like healthcare, how they diagnose autism, and genetics, this kind of study can only raise questions. It cannot make strong conclusions about autism.

On the other hand, many peer-reviewed studies that other scientists have checked show something very different. Vaccines do not cause autism. Large, trusted health groups like the World Health Organization (WHO) have repeated this many times.

One big study in Denmark looked at more than 650,000 children born between 1999 and 2010 to see if the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine was linked to autism. The children were followed for years, and about 6,500 were found to have autism. Kids who got the MMR vaccine were not more likely to have autism than kids who didn’t. Another meta-analysis, which combined data from more than 1.2 million children, also found no link.

Vaccines contain antigens, which are tiny pieces of germs that train your immune system to recognize real infections. Some people worry that “too many” antigens might cause autism, but the science doesn’t support that. Over the last few decades, scientists have made vaccines more focused and efficient, so today’s vaccines actually contain far fewer antigens than they used to. At the same time, autism rates have gone up, mostly because doctors are better at recognizing and diagnosing autism.

If vaccines were causing autism, you would expect autism rates to go down as antigens went down, but the opposite happened. This is strong evidence that vaccines are not the cause of autism.

So why do some people still believe vaccines are to blame? Often it’s because they don’t want to accept the evidence. When one idea is proven wrong, they move on to a new one, like saying “too many vaccines cause autism” or blaming another vaccine. This cycle keeps going, even though the science is clear. Instead of wasting money on disproven ideas, we should use it to find better ways to support and help autistic people.

A former member of the UK parliament, Andrew Bridgen, claims that spike proteins from vaccination are the real cause of Long COVID.

Long COVID is when someone still feels sick for weeks or months after having COVID. People first started reporting long COVID in early 2020, before vaccines even existed. This shows that vaccines are not what causes long COVID.

The paper Bridgen wrote looked at the spike protein. This is the part of the virus that helps it get into our cells. Both getting COVID and getting a vaccine involve spike protein, but they work very differently:

• When you get COVID, the virus makes a lot of spike protein because it is spreading through your body.
• When you get the vaccine, your body makes only a small amount of spike protein for a short time so your immune system can learn to fight the virus.

The researchers found that people who had COVID had more spike protein in their bodies than people who were only vaccinated.

Long COVID could potentially happen after getting the vaccine. But it is much more likely to happen after getting sick with COVID because the real virus makes your body deal with a much bigger and stronger attack than the vaccine does.

In a Children’s Health Defense video, Brian Hooker claims that even one vaccine can harm a child by causing brain problems or SIDS, and that spreading shots out does not make them safer.

Vaccines are not linked to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS). In fact, research shows that babies who get their vaccines on time are less likely to die from SIDS. Many vaccines are given around the same age when SIDS is most common, which can make the two seem connected—but they are not.

Many things can affect infant deaths, such as access to good health care, a mother’s health, and social factors like poverty. These issues explain differences in infant mortality. The United States has a higher infant death rate than some other wealthy countries because of problems like unequal access to medical care, not because of vaccines. Countries with strong vaccination programs usually have healthier children and fewer deaths from diseases that can be prevented.

Vaccine ingredients do not cross the brain’s protective barrier and do not cause autism, learning problems, ADHD, or other developmental conditions. The false idea that vaccines cause autism came from a study published in 1998 that was later proven to be dishonest and was removed from the scientific record. Science has moved on since 1998.