In an
NBC interview on Monday, President Obama called the science behind vaccinations "pretty indisputable" — a different stance than the one he took as a senator and candidate in 2008.
In 2008, Obama said research needed to continue on whether there was a link between vaccines and autism.
"The science is right now inconclusive, but we have to research it," Obama said at an April 2008 rally in Pennsylvania.
But the White House did not respond to a request for comment on whether Obama has changed his mind about the purported link between vaccines and autism,
Politico reported.
The alleged link between autism and vaccines has played an important role in triggering an anti-vaccination movement across the United States. The "anti-vaxxers," as adherents are known, contend that vaccine ingredients such as thimerosal cause autism in children.
These suspicions have spilled over into other types of diseases, sometimes with dangerous consequences,
Politico said.
In 2012, for example, anti-vaxxers were blamed for an outbreak of the whooping cough,
according to Forbes.
Today, vaccine opponents are being blamed for an outbreak of measles in the United States. The Centers for Disease Control announced Sunday that at least 102 measles cases had been reported in 14 states this year.
By April 2008, "when Obama was claiming research was inconclusive, scientists had already overwhelmingly rejected any causal relationship between vaccinations and autism," Politico said.
In 2001, thimerosal had been "removed or reduced to trace amounts" in all childhood vaccines except for one type that treats the flu, according to the
Centers for Disease Control.
"In May 2004 — almost four years before Obama claimed that the science was 'inconclusive' — the Institute of Medicine, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences, released a report rejecting any 'causal relationship between thimerosal-containing vaccines and autism,'"
Politico reported.
The CDC supported the results. The agency noted that some people had expressed concerns "about other vaccine ingredients in relation to autism as well. However, no links have been found between any vaccine ingredients and autism."
When Obama spoke in April 2008, the United States was just ending another measles outbreak.
From Jan. 1 through April 2008, the CDC reported there were 64 cases of measles, 63 of them occurring in non-vaccinated people.
Today, the country "faces a new outbreak of measles, due in part to the refusal of some parents to vaccinate their children," according to Politico.
And today, the CDC emphasizes the importance of increased vaccination rates in preventing the spread of measles.
Obama is currently speaking out in favor of vaccination in general, declaring that "there is every reason to get vaccinated, but there aren't reasons to not" do so.
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