Former NBC chief executive Bob Wright created a non-profit organization from scratch into the world’s leading advocacy and research funding agency for autism. When he weighs in on the controversial topic of whether a link exists between vaccines and autism, people listen.

“There’s no tie, direct tie, to autism,” Wright said Tuesday, when he returned to the NBC studios to speak about his new book, “The Wright Stuff.”

Wright, who co-founded Autism Speaks with his wife, Suzanne, said “there is no definitive answer” to whether vaccines cause autism. However, he believes there could be better safety controls when it comes over overseeing vaccine production.

“We have not been able to determine that autism is caused by vaccines. However, there are lots of issues having to do with the vaccine safety program that I got into very deeply, with no agenda, early on in autism,” he said.

He said vaccine companies pay out tens of millions of dollars worth of damages each year in lawsuits, although not specifically tied to autism cases.

“There’s always going to be an issue with vaccines because all vaccines are the same, and all people receiving them are different,” he said.

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