A new study looking at Medicaid data in Florida purports to show a relationship between children who are vaccinated and their autism diagnosis.

This study is published in Science, Public Health Policy and the Law, with an editorial board that includes anti-vaccine and anti-vaccine figures such as Peter McCullough, Pierre Kory, Russell Blaylock, and Brian Hooker. This study was funded by the National Vaccine Information Center NVIC, one of the largest anti-vaccine organizations in the US.

One big problem with the study is that the authors didn’t consider that vaccinated and unvaccinated families might visit doctors differently. For example, do parents who vaccinate their kids also take them to the doctor more often and pay closer attention to possible developmental issues? On the other hand, do parents who don’t trust doctors and refuse vaccines also avoid taking their children to the doctor, even if they notice something might be wrong?

The study measured doctor visits in a very simple way—either a child had no vaccination visits or at least one. However, they didn’t say how many visits each child actually had. This is important because if unvaccinated kids see doctors less often, they also have fewer chances to be checked for developmental conditions like autism. These differences could make it seem like autism happens more often in vaccinated children when, in reality, unvaccinated children just aren’t getting diagnosed as much.

A video featuring Toby Rogers claims that the safety studies for aluminum in vaccines were inadequate, with small sample sizes, poor methodology, and results showing potentially harmful accumulation of aluminum in critical organs like the brain and heart.

The video claims that aluminum and mercury in vaccines are unsafe due to poor safety studies. However, these ingredients are used in tiny, carefully tested amounts to make vaccines more effective.

Aluminum, for example, is used as an adjuvant to boost the immune response, reducing the number of doses needed. Studies have repeatedly shown that the levels of aluminum in vaccines are far below harmful thresholds. The body naturally processes and eliminates small amounts of aluminum found in food, water, and medicines, including vaccines.

And studies show that the body clears most of it quickly through the kidneys. A study published in Vaccine found that the amount of aluminum from vaccines is much smaller than what people are exposed to daily from food and the environment. Additionally, the aluminum that remains temporarily in the body does not accumulate to harmful levels. Vaccines save millions of lives each year, and their benefits far outweigh the minimal, scientifically disproven risks suggested in the video.

The video criticizes safety studies for small sample sizes, but this ignores the rigorous testing process vaccines undergo before approval. Clinical trials usually include thousands of people from different backgrounds to make sure medicines and vaccines are safe and work well. Government agencies like the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and EMA (European Medicines Agency) have strict rules that scientists must follow. These rules include testing on a large number of people and watching for side effects over a long period of time.

Claims that aluminum adjuvant studies rely solely on small rabbit studies are misleading, as these studies are part of a larger body of evidence that includes human clinical trials and decades of vaccine safety data.

The suggestion that aluminum or mercury in vaccines causes autism has been thoroughly debunked. Large-scale studies, including research published in reputable journals like JAMA have found no link between vaccines and autism. The initial controversy stemmed from a fraudulent study by Andrew Wakefield, which was later retracted due to false data. Numerous studies since then have shown no causal relationship between vaccine ingredients, including aluminum or mercury, and autism.

Not only do the studies done to date show vaccines are not in any way linked to autism, but studies indicate disorganization of the prefrontal cortex in the brains of autistic people. This finding about brains links autism to development that takes place before birth.

Of all the risk factors for developing autism, we know genetics looks the most likely, and being vaccinated is not among them.

In an interview on Alex Jones’ Info War, former vice presidential candidate Nicole Shanahan argues that mRNA vaccines are unsafe and unpredictable, causing health problems like blood clots and irregular menstrual cycles, and believes they need more testing before use because they treat the body like a machine, which could lead to harmful, long-term effects.

Our mRNA vaccines have been well-tested. Serious side effects are extremely rare, and most reactions, like sore arms or mild fever, only last a short while. Scientists have been studying mRNA for decades, and due to prior research, its use in vaccines was accelerated during the pandemic. Clinical trials involved tens of thousands of participants, and millions of people have safely received these vaccines since then.

The idea that COVID vaccines cause “turbo cancer” has no scientific backing. Even the most potent carcinogens take years to cause cancer. It would be some time before we saw spikes in cancer. Epidemiological data show no increase in cancer linked to the vaccines. Reports of rising early-onset cancers started in the 1990s, long before the COVID vaccines existed.

The idea that mRNA vaccines cause “shedding,” where vaccinated people somehow affect unvaccinated individuals, is a misunderstanding of the science. Shedding refers to live viruses used in some vaccines, but mRNA vaccines do not contain live viruses, so shedding is not possible. For example, the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines use a small piece of mRNA that teaches cells to make a harmless protein to trigger immunity. This technology cannot spread or alter someone else’s body.

Comparing mRNA vaccines to genetic modifications in plants or animals shows a misunderstanding of how these technologies work. mRNA vaccines do not alter DNA or cause mutations. Instead, they give temporary instructions to cells to produce a protein that trains the immune system to fight a virus. These instructions break down quickly and leave the body after doing their job.

Finally, claims about mRNA vaccines being part of a harmful agenda are unfounded conspiracy theories. Scientists worldwide have worked transparently to develop these vaccines to save lives during a global crisis. Dismissing them ignores the evidence of their role in reducing severe illness, hospitalizations, and deaths from COVID-19. Misinformation about vaccines can create fear, but credible scientific sources provide clear information to help people make informed decisions.