The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is planning a large study into potential connections between vaccines and autism, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters, despite extensive scientific research that has disproven or failed to find evidence of such links.

The CDC’s decision to reinvestigate links between vaccines and autism after decades of scientific inquiry that showed no such connection is a bellwether moment in the anti-public health trajectory of Trump’s fascistic policies.

The US Department of Health and Human Services asked the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to study vaccines and autism, a person familiar with the situation told CNN, despite strong evidence that vaccines do not cause autism.

Health and Human Services (HHS) officials led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., recently confirmed that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will investigate whether vaccines cause autism. The announcement reignited a longstanding debate over a theory lacking substantial scientific evidence.

President Donald Trump and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have repeatedly raised the idea that autism could be linked to vaccines.

Under the new leadership of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the CDC is expected to look into a long-debunked connection between vaccination and autism.

The Department of Health and Human Services, headed by RFK Jr., is responding to reports that the CDC will begin researching the widely refuted theory that links autism to vaccines.