Long Beach health officials fire back against Trump admin disinformation campaign

Long Beach health officials and local doctors are pushing back against a Trump administration disinformation campaign asserting that there could be a link between autism and vaccines.

On Nov. 19, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a webpage that states the “claim that ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim.” The page asserts that studies supporting a link between autism and vaccines have “been ignored by health authorities.”

Local health officials responded quickly, and bluntly, on social media: “vaccines DO NOT cause autism.”

The infamous study linking vaccines to autism was thoroughly debunked and retracted more than 15 years ago, according to the National Library of Medicine. The study by Dr. Andrew Wakefield and his 12 co-authors was published in the Lancet, a highly respected medical journal, in 1998. The findings sparked a rise in vaccine hesitancy among parents, which were amplified by the likes of actress Jenny McCarthy.

In 2010, however, the Lancet retracted the paper, stating “several elements” of the study “are incorrect, contrary to the findings of an earlier investigation.”

The initial study included 12 children with chronic enterocolitis and regressive developmental disorder. Parents for eight of the children associated the condition with vaccines, which led the authors to the conclusion that there was a link between vaccines and autism.

In January 2010, Britain’s General Medical Council found that Wakefield’s research was unethical due to the fact that the research was funded by lawyers representing parents involved in lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers and that the children were carefully selected. The council also stated the study showed a “callous disregard” for the children involved.

The paper was retracted the following month.

Despite the retraction of the paper, its findings continue to fuel anti-vaxx rhetoric today, including in the Trump administration’s Department of Health and Human Services under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Kennedy, one of numerous controversial appointees by President Donald Trump, has been an outspoken anti-vaxxer for years, which drew questions and criticism when he was announced as Trump’s pick as the top health official in the country. In April, Kennedy pledged to find the cause of autism by September.

“The whole thing about ‘vaccines have been tested and there’s been this determination made,’ is just a lie,” Kennedy said in an interview with the New York Times earlier this month. In the interview, Kennedy said he told the CDC to change its website's language on autism and vaccines.

Kennedy, an environmental lawyer, has no medical background or expertise.

Long Beach health officials noted that independent researchers from seven countries have conducted 40 “high-quality” studies involving 5.6 million people since Wakefield’s paper was published almost 30 years ago.

“No credible scientific evidence supports a connection,” the department wrote in a Nov. 25 press release.

“The increase in autism diagnoses reflects improved screening practices, broader diagnostic criteria and greater public awareness, not a link to vaccines,” the department continued. “Misinformation about autism and vaccines not only spreads confusion but also contributes to stigma affecting people in the autism community and their families.”

The pushback against Kennedy has grown more intense in recent months, with Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Georgia, leading the charge. During a Senate Finance Committee hearing on Sept. 4, Warnock told Kennedy he was “a hazard to the health of the American people” and urged him to resign, as reported by CBS News.

During the hearing Warnock noted a resurgence of measles in pockets of the U.S. can be linked directly to the anti-vaxxer rhetoric that is amplified by the health department under Kennedy’s leadership. In July, Johns Hopkins announced measles cases hit their highest level since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000.

“Secretary Kennedy has spent his time in office spreading doubt about vaccines,” Warnock wrote in a Nov. 23 post on X. “Now measles is back. He is a threat to our health and must be fired immediately.”

According to the university’s U.S. Measles Tracker, cases of the disease in 2025 reached 1,800 as of Nov. 28, with Texas accounting for 44%. The previous high came in 2019, when the country saw 1,274 cases. Excluding 2019, from 2018 through 2024, the country averaged 152 cases of measles annually.

Of the cases, 94% are in unvaccinated children, according to Johns Hopkins data. At least three measles-related deaths have been recorded in the U.S. this year, according to the JAMA Network.

Dr. Tempe Chen, who specializes in pediatrics and infectious diseases at Long Beach Medical Center, pushed back against the Trump administration’s claims in a statement to the Watchdog, noting the debunking of Wakefield’s research.

“There are numerous high-quality studies (including epidemiologic studies, systematic reviews, and meta-analyses) examining the relationship between vaccines and autism, and the evidence consistently shows no association between vaccines and autism,” Chen wrote in a Nov. 26 email. “In summary, vaccines do not cause autism. Rather, they make adults!”