Elon Musk’s X Corrects MTG’s ‘Vaccines Cause Autism’ Claim
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) took to X on Monday to falsely state that vaccines caused autism—but not without backlash.
The controversial congresswoman has been known to spread conspiracy theories, like the U.S. government controlling the weather and wildfires being caused by space lasers, among other things.
This time, she declared unequivocally that vaccines cause autism—a claim that has been studied extensively, with no evidence to suggest that the two are connected.
“I fully believe vaccines cause Autism,“ she wrote. ”It’s another example of crimes against humanity. And innocent babies, children, and their families are the victims."
The comment was in response to a post claiming that vaccines could cause autism, with X users writing an extensive community note to prove the congresswoman wrong.
“Vaccines do not cause autism,” read the note, which is crowdsourced by users of the Elon Musk-owned social media platform. “The scientific literature on this is so extensive, that claiming otherwise can only be explained through sheer ignorance, or some sort of nefarious political purpose.”
The note included at least 19 links to outside resources that shot down claims of the connection between autism and vaccines.
“Some people have had concerns that [Autism Spectrum Disorder] might be linked to the vaccines children receive, but studies have shown that there is no link between receiving vaccines and developing ASD,” read one of the links from the CDC. “Once vaccines are licensed or authorized for emergency use in the United States, CDC and FDA continuously monitor them through several safety systems.”
Another link directed to an NPR story with the headline, “A Large Study Provides More Evidence That MMR Vaccines Don’t Cause Autism.”
“A large study released Monday finds no evidence that the vaccine that protects against measles, mumps and rubella increases the risk of autism,” read the article. “The study of children born in Denmark is one of the largest ever of the MMR vaccine.”
Users even took to the comments to write their grievances with the claim.
“The scientific process is indifferent about what you personally believe, thankfully,” wrote one user.
“This has been researched extensively and no link has been found between vaccines and autism,” wrote another.
