A group of bipartisan lawmakers is trying to reinforce that vaccines are safe, as anti-vaccine activists see the Trump administration as vindication for unfounded theories that they are unsafe and can cause autism.
“The science is clear: [Food and Drug Administration]-licensed vaccines are proven to be safe and effective, and save the lives of both those who receive them and vulnerable individuals around them,” a letter from House and Senate members released Tuesday said.
The letter, sent to every member of Congress, comes amid growing concern over President Trump’s views about vaccine safety. Trump previously espoused on Twitter that vaccines cause autism, even though there is no scientific evidence to prove that.
Vaccine skeptic Robert Kennedy Jr. said last month Trump asked him to lead a vaccine safety commission, but the administration walked back any notion a commission would be created.
The letter comes a few days after movie star Robert De Niro questioned the safety of vaccines during a speech at the National Press Club.
Lawmakers tout the ability of vaccines to end terrible diseases such as polio and pointed out that in 2000 a vaccine helped eliminate measles in the U.S.
However, in recent years officials linked an outbreak of measles at Disneyland in California to children who weren’t vaccinated. The outbreak led the state to pass a strict law ending vaccine exemptions for non-medical reasons.
Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., and the committee’s top Democrat, Patty Murray of Washington, were among lawmakers signing the letter.
Other authors were Reps. Greg Walden, R-Ore., and Frank Pallone, D-N.J., the chairman and top Democrat of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Reps. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, and Gene Green, D-Texas, also joined the letter as they lead Energy and Commerce’s health subcommittees.
