Dr. Peter Marks, the previous prime vaccine official on the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration (FDA), has criticized Well being and Human Companies Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for giving what he known as “false hope” to households by claiming that the Trump administration will determine the reason for autism by September.
Marks, who resigned earlier this month amid mounting frustration with Kennedy’s promotion of vaccine misinformation, appeared on CBS’s Face the Nation to problem Kennedy’s current assertion {that a} huge federal analysis initiative would quickly pinpoint and get rid of the basis causes of autism.
Requested about HHS Secretary RFK Jr.’s suggestion that the reason for autism could be recognized by September, the previous prime vaccine scientist on the FDA tells @margbrennan: “In the event you simply ask me, as a scientist, is it attainable to get the reply that shortly? I do not see any attainable… pic.twitter.com/jhk9WAHXpM
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) April 11, 2025
Kennedy introduced the hassle by means of the Nationwide Institutes of Well being. “By September we’ll know what has triggered the autism epidemic and we can get rid of these exposures,” he promised.
“Giving individuals false hope is one thing you must by no means do,” Marks mentioned in response to Kennedy’s announcement.
“I do not see any attainable manner [to get the answer that quickly],” Marks continued. “Autism is an extremely difficult concern.”
Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, has implied that vaccines could also be among the many environmental toxins driving autism charges. Nevertheless, Marks dismissed that notion, citing the overwhelming physique of analysis exhibiting no hyperlink between vaccines and autism. “We have studied them in so many thousands and thousands of youngsters,” he mentioned.
The controversy comes amid a lethal resurgence of measles within the US, with three unvaccinated people—together with two younger women from Seminole, Texas—dying in current weeks. Measles had been declared eradicated from the U.S. in 2000, however new outbreaks have developed in sure under-vaccinated communities.
Kennedy has provided solely tepid help for the measles vaccine, telling CBS that “individuals ought to get the measles vaccine” however reiterating his opposition to mandates. He has additionally promoted unproven options like nutritional vitamins and cod-liver oil.
Marks blamed the current pediatric measles deaths on Kennedy and his workers, describing it as “the epitome of an absolute useless dying.”
“These children ought to get vaccinated—that is the way you forestall individuals from dying of measles,” Marks emphasised.
In his resignation letter, Marks criticized Kennedy for spreading misinformation and undermining public belief in secure and efficient vaccines.
“Fact and transparency will not be desired by the secretary,” Marks wrote. “He needs subservient affirmation of his misinformation and lies.”
Initially printed on Latin Occasions
