CEO DATELINE - Medical groups defend vaccine safety
CEO DATELINE - Medical groups defend vaccine safety
- January 11, 2017 |
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Walt Williams
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Representatives from at least three medical groups are defending the use of vaccines after news broke that President-elect Donald Trump may form a commission to study the alleged health hazards of vaccines.
Environmental activist Robert Kennedy Jr. told reporters Tuesday he had met with Trump and the president-elect had asked him to chair a commission on vaccine safety. Kennedy is a proponent of the debunked claim that vaccines cause autism—a belief Trump has echoed in the past.
A spokeswoman for Trump's transition team later told media outlets the president-elect was instead considering creating a commission on autism but no decisions had been made on the matter. Regardless of Trump's intentions, at least three medical groups were quick to note a large body of scientific evidence exists showing vaccines do not cause autism.
"We are deeply concerned that creating a new commission on vaccination safety would cause unnecessary confusion and adversely impact parental decision-making and immunization practices," the American Medical Association said in a statement to the news site Healthline. http://bit.ly/2idkdUR
The American Academy of Pediatrics issued a statement reiterating its position that vaccines are safe and save lives.
"Claims that vaccines are linked to autism, or are unsafe when administered according to the recommended schedule, have been disproven by a robust body of medical literature," he said. "Delaying vaccines only leaves a child at risk of disease." http://bit.ly/2idkdUR
John Meigs, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians board of directors, told Forbes a commission would divert dollars from more pressing healthcare issues.
"To suggest the need for such an organization promotes unnecessary, ongoing and disproven skepticism about vaccines and public safety," Meigs said. http://bit.ly/2ik35LV
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