АНУ-ын Эрүүл мэндийн сайд Роберт Ф. Кеннеди Үндэсний эрүүл мэндийн хүрээлэнгийн (NIH) жилийн төсвийн арав гаруй хувийг буюу 5 тэрбум долларыг вакцин аутизм үүсгэдэг гэх онолыг судлахад шилжүүлэх санал гаргажээ. Энэхүү санаачилга нь шинжлэх ухааны үндэслэлгүй гэж олон арван жилийн турш үгүйсгэгдсээр ирсэн асуудалд төсвийн ихээхэн хэсгийг зарцуулах оролдлого байв.
NIH-ийн захирал Жэй Бхаттачариа тус агентлаг аутизмын шалтгааныг судлахад аль хэдийн хөрөнгө оруулалт хийж байгааг тайлбарласны дараа уг саналыг хэрэгсэхгүй болгожээ. Тухайлбал, өнгөрсөн есдүгээр сард тус байгууллага аутизмын шалтгааныг судлах 50 сая долларын шинэ хөтөлбөрийг эхлүүлсэн байна.
Роберт Ф. Кеннеди вакцинжуулалтын аюулгүй байдлын талаарх өөрийн байр сууриа идэвхтэй илэрхийлсээр байгаа бөгөөд үүнийг нь АНУ-ын зарим албаны хүмүүс улс төрийн эрсдэлтэй алхам гэж үзэж байна. Ерөнхийлөгч Дональд Трамп түүнтэй хийсэн уулзалтуудын үеэр вакцин болон аутизмын холбоотой холбоотой шинэ нотлох баримт байгаа эсэхийг тогтмол асуудаг гэж эх сурвалжууд мэдээлэв.
Эрүүл мэндийн салбарын мэргэжилтнүүд, тухайлбал Филадельфийн хүүхдийн эмнэлгийн Вакцины боловсролын төвийн захирал, доктор Пол Оффит Кеннедигийн энэхүү бодлогыг шүүмжилж байна. Тэрээр Кеннедигийн байр суурь нь олон нийтийн дунд вакцинжуулалтын талаарх айдас төрүүлж, улаан бурхан зэрэг өвчний дэгдэлтийг хянахад хүндрэл учруулж байгааг онцоллоо.
Дэлгэрэнгүйг эх сурвалжаас харах
↓Эх сурвалжийг нээх ↓
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pushed to divert $5 billion from the National Institutes of Health to investigate the long-debunked theory that vaccines cause autism, according to officials familiar with the proposal—a plan that would have consumed more than a tenth of the agency’s annual budget.
The idea was ultimately shelved after NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya persuaded Kennedy that the agency was already investing heavily in autism research, including a $50 million initiative launched last September to study the condition’s causes.
The proposal highlights Kennedy’s continued focus on vaccine safety despite decades of scientific research finding no link between vaccines and autism.
According to eight current and former officials, Kennedy has continued searching for evidence to support his long-held belief that many vaccines are inadequately tested and can cause serious side effects, even after publicly agreeing to avoid discussing vaccines following concerns from senior White House aides that his views could become a political liability for Republicans.
Neither the NIH nor the Department of Health and Human Services responded to requests for comment about the proposed funding shift.
The proposal is one of several previously unreported episodes described by current and former administration officials that shed light on Kennedy’s agenda since taking over the nation’s top health agency.
An environmental lawyer turned one of America’s best-known vaccine skeptics, Kennedy has spent two decades promoting claims that vaccines cause autism and autoimmune disorders and contain material from aborted fetuses—assertions that conflict with extensive scientific evidence showing vaccines are safe and have saved millions of lives.
His profile grew dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic as he questioned vaccine safety, opposed lockdowns and promoted conspiracy theories accusing government scientists of profiting from the pandemic.
Kennedy became Health secretary after ending his 2024 presidential campaign and endorsing Donald Trump. During his confirmation hearings, he pledged not to take vaccines away from Americans.
According to four people briefed on conversations between the two men, Trump regularly asks Kennedy during Oval Office meetings whether new evidence has emerged linking vaccines to autism. Kennedy has interpreted those discussions as encouragement to continue pursuing vaccine safety research.
The White House did not dispute Reuters’ account of those conversations. Spokesman Kush Desai said Trump supports Kennedy’s efforts to reduce the U.S. childhood immunization schedule to better align with what he described as peer nations and said the administration “continues to seek out answers for countless parents whose questions and concerns have long been ignored.”
Reuters interviewed 16 current and former administration officials who described Kennedy as relentlessly pursuing an overhaul of U.S. vaccine policy, pushing through some of the most consequential changes in decades while seeking to go further than previously known.
“He’s an anti-vaccine activist. That’s who he is. That’s who he’s been for 20 years,” said Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a longtime adviser to the CDC.
Offit said Kennedy’s repeated questioning of vaccine safety has undermined efforts to contain outbreaks, including the nation’s largest measles resurgence in more than three decades.
“He scares people about vaccines, which only causes them not to get them,” Offit said. “We’re screwed.”
HHS spokeswoman Courtney Spencer disputed what she described as “key details” of Reuters’ reporting, including that Kennedy sought to eliminate the entire childhood immunization schedule, but did not specify which other aspects she disputed or respond to requests for clarification.
