Think for a moment. He's a senator. He gets petitioned by parents and by groups representing such issues as Autism. Yeah he likely does know of the number of cases and likely some that don't get added into the official CDC Stats. These are the parents who make calls and write letters looking for answers.
Autism for example when I was growing up {born in 1957} was rare. Now most people know of someone with an Autistic child. Before mainstreaming they were sent to special education schools and pre 1980 there wasn't that many. That's how I know.
So what changed? The stories all seem similar. Kids born with no notable defects or disorders suddenly developing disorders which can not be linked to any changes except for recent vaccines which began in early 1970's. Again is it the actual vaccine or the fact the All In One Method of vaccines became common?
I will say this. BIG PHARM has big influence in congress and in health agencies as well in dictating policies and even far too much influence in some doctors offices. I've seen three REPS sitting in an office from the same company with the same product before.
Irrelevant. There is no documented scientific evidence linking vaccines to autism, and the original claim was made by a man who is a proven fraud who falsified his research. Medical journals who posted the findings have retracted them.
In 2015, there is no excuse for still believing in the vaccine-autism link. It has been thoroughly debunked.