Washington, D.C. — National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya delivered a clear scientific statement during a Senate hearing, declaring he has not seen any study linking vaccines to autism. This public affirmation directly contradicts Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F.
Kennedy Jr. , who has long promoted the debunked vaccine-autism theory, creating a rare split within the Trump administration over vaccine safety.
Bhattacharya told the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions that extensive decades-long research has found no connection between vaccines and autism spectrum disorder. His testimony aligns with overwhelming global scientific consensus from organizations including the National Academies, National Medical Association, CDC, and WHO, which reviewed 31 primary research studies published between 2010 and 2025 across multiple countries.
Key Facts
• NIH Director stated
during February 3 Senate HELP Committee hearing
• Over 1,000 NIH research awards totaling $721 million have been terminated, including 58 projects on Alzheimer's, 99 on HIV/AIDS, and 97 on vaccine development
• WHO's December 2024 global expert committee on vaccine safety found zero causal link between vaccines and autism based on analysis of multiple countries' data
During the contentious Senate hearing, Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders directly pressed Bhattacharya on whether vaccines cause autism. Sanders specifically challenged the apparent contradiction between the NIH director's position and Kennedy's well-documented vaccine skepticism, asking whether government health policy should be guided by scientists rather than conspiracy theorists.
Bhattacharya's response marked a significant moment of scientific clarity from the Trump administration's health leadership. However, the NIH director acknowledged existing "deep distrust" among the public about vaccines, attributing some government vaccine policy reversals to public perception rather than purely scientific grounds.
The hearing revealed deeper institutional turbulence at NIH beyond vaccine debates. Senator Bill Cassidy, a Republican physician, expressed concern that political ideology masked as science was driving research funding decisions under Trump's administration, including cancellation of six projects examining biological differences between men and women.
Senator Bernie Sanders reported that NIH has frozen or terminated at least $561 million in research funding across heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's, diabetes, dementia, and pediatric brain tumor trials since Trump's inauguration. Many researchers conducting mid-trial cancer studies reported significant disruptions affecting patient care.
Kennedy has systematically replaced NIH's impartial vaccine advisory committee with vaccine skeptics, instructing them to investigate vaccine harms as their primary mandate. This represents a fundamental shift from the committee's decades-long role advising government on vaccine schedules backed by rigorous science.
The scientific record remains definitive: multiple large, well-designed epidemiologic studies consistently show no association between MMR vaccine and autism spectrum disorder. Public health experts warn that vaccine hesitancy fueled by discredited autism claims directly causes preventable disease outbreaks, including the current measles epidemic in South Carolina.
— Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, NIH Director
The debate highlights a critical tension in American health policy: whether vaccine development and public immunization strategy should follow scientific evidence or alternative theories lacking research support. As measles cases rise nationally, health officials stress that withholding vaccines based on unproven autism risks exposes children to very real infectious diseases causing severe complications, disability, or death.
Do You Know?
The original 1998 study claiming a vaccine-autism link has been thoroughly debunked, retracted by its journal, and its lead author lost his medical license due to ethical violations and fraudulent research practices. Yet this single discredited study continues fueling anti-vaccine sentiment globally more than 25 years later.
Key Terms
• MMR Vaccine: Measles, Mumps, Rubella three-in-one vaccine given to children; extensively studied with zero autism link found
• Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD): Developmental condition affecting communication and social interaction; not caused by vaccines according to all major scientific bodies
• Epidemiologic Studies: Large-scale population health research tracking disease patterns; strongest evidence type for establishing vaccine safety
• Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP): Government group advising on vaccine schedules; recently restructured with vaccine skeptics
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