RFK Jr's Controversial Vaccine Stance Could Reignite Autism Debate

If confirmed as the head of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr's involvement in Children's Health Defense, his controversial non-profit organization, could influence vaccine policy and reignite the highly contentious debate over vaccines and autism.

President-elect Donald J. Trump's announcement that former Independent candidate Kennedy was his pick for Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has triggered a wide range of reactions from health officials, journalists, and the American people. Some call Trump's selection brilliant, while others label it dangerous.

In a November 14 post on X, Kennedy said he is committed to advancing the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) campaign and plans to end the chronic disease epidemic and "provide Americans with transparency and access to all the data so they can make informed choices for themselves and their families."

While his push to eliminate chronic disease has gained positive feedback, his controversial claims about vaccines have raised concern among many health experts.

Recently, Mandy Cohen, the Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), warned about the threat of scaling back vaccines if Kennedy, often labeled as the anti-vax candidate, takes the reins as secretary of the HHS.

Moreover, as head of HHS, Kennedy's involvement in his non-profit, Children's Health Defense (CHD), could influence vaccine-related policies over the next four years and potentially reignite the controversy over vaccines and autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

What is Children's Health Defense?

RFK Jr. is the founder and chairman (currently on leave) of CHD. According to the organization's website, its mission is to restore and protect children's health by eliminating environmental exposures, holding responsible parties accountable, and establishing safeguards to prevent future harm.

The non-profit uses the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to request safety and other data from government agencies responsible for public health and safety, and it has taken legal action when agencies fail to respond.

For example, CHD submitted FOIA requests to the CDC in 2022 to obtain its Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) monitoring records regarding links between safety signals and the COVID-19 vaccine. VAERS is the CDC and U.S. Food and Drug Administration's early warning system that monitors potential vaccine safety problems.

After failure to provide the requested information, CHD filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. While the CDC did provide some records, CHD says they were incomplete or heavily redacted, so litigation continued. The judge granted the CDC through the HHS a stay in the case until Friday, January 24, 2025.

CHD claims that 5G technology, chemicals such as fluoride, food additives, and pesticides are known culprits of chronic illness in America, especially among children. The non-profit also lists vaccines as an offender and continues to "advocate for transparency and sound science in our nation's vaccine program," making them popular amongst the anti-vaccine movement.

The elephant in the room: autism and vaccines

According to an AXIOS report, Kennedy suggested autism has become more common due to modern vaccinations in a June 15 episode of the "Joe Rogan Experience" podcast.

The debate about the link between vaccines and autism has created a divide between parents, healthcare providers, and government agencies over the past few decades.

The fear surrounding vaccines began in 1998 when scientist Andrew Wakefield and colleagues published a study that suggested the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine may be linked to the development of autism.

However, the paper was seriously flawed and later refuted by other studies. Still, it was highly publicized and caught parents' attention, leading to a drop in vaccination rates.

The CHD is also involved in fueling the ongoing autism/vaccine debate. For example, its autism webpage suggests that mercury in vaccines plays a role in the development of autism, listing 80 research papers as evidence.

In addition, stories from parents who say they observed distinct changes in their children after vaccination and later received an autism diagnosis may have contributed to vaccine-related fears.

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Do childhood vaccines cause autism?

The ongoing autism and vaccine issue has been thoroughly addressed and debunked by the scientific community. For example, a 2022 study points out that there is overwhelming evidence that vaccines do not cause autism. Moreover, the CDC says that research has not shown links between vaccines and autism, citing two studies published in 2011 and 2013.

The 2011 study cited by the Agency, conducted by the National Academy of Medicine, formerly known as the Institute of Medicine, looked at the safety of eight vaccines.

When investigating the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) shot, the researchers found that the evidence favors rejection of a causal relationship between the MMR vaccine and autism. Later research confirmed this when it found that the MMR vaccine was not associated with increased risk of autism, even in children with older siblings with ASD.

In addition, the Institute of Medicine did not find any research reporting clinical, diagnostic, or experimental evidence of autism occurring after the administration of diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis (DTaP) vaccines.

Still, due to a lack of evidence, the authors concluded that the evidence is inadequate to accept or reject a causal relationship between the DTaP vaccine and autism.

Kennedy mentioned this study in a recent News Nation town hall interview, noting that the report showed "there are over 150 injuries that are likely to be associated with vaccines that have never been studied."

RFK Jr.: undefined When I was a kid, there was only three vaccines, and I was compliant. But when we passed the Vaccine Act, it made vaccines very, very valuable. And all of a sudden, there was a gold rush to add a lot of new vaccines to the schedule for diseases that aren't even… pic.twitter.com/2aTlWwGHIV

undefined Camus (@newstart_2024) November 15, 2024

However, in a report brief, the investigators list only nine individual adverse events with evidence that "convincingly supports" a link to vaccines. Some of the events listed are severe allergic reactions, febrile seizures, and fainting, but not autism.

Vaccine conspiracies and transparency

In an interview with Bloomberg, Dr. Paul Offit, Director of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Vaccine Education Center, said Kennedy isn't a vaccine skeptic; he's a vaccine cynic.

"He doesn't believe the data. He thinks that there are dark, evil forces working behind the scenes that are misrepresenting data," Offit said. "What he doesn't realize is that there is no hiding, even if a pharmaceutical company misrepresented data on safety or efficacy that will soon be found out because there are post-marketing studies like that can be done by the vaccine safety DataLink, where you'll know if there's a problem immediately. There is no hiding, so his whole premise is wrong."

Dr. Paul Offit, Director of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia's Vaccine Education Center calls RFK Jr's appointment to HHS elevation of a undefinedscience denialist and conspiracy theoristundefined
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Will RFK Jr. tackle the autism-vaccine debate?

During Trump's first term, Kennedy said he was asked to chair a commission investigating potential links between autism and vaccines. However, the commission never materialized.

According to a Politico report, at the time, Kennedy said he and Trump were pro-vaccine, but "everybody ought to be able to be assured that the vaccines that we have [are] as safe as they possibly can be."

Kennedy's previous intentions to chair an autism and vaccine committee, his mention of the Institute of Medicine study, and his Children's Health Defense organization's stance on vaccines suggest that the controversial vaccines and autism debate could potentially surface during Kennedy's time as HHS secretary.

However, any overzealous vaccine policies sparked by the issue could spell trouble for the health of Americans and sound unnecessary alarms when any adverse reaction occurs after vaccination.

For example, Kennedy's vaccine beliefs may have played a role in a 2018 MMR vaccine fiasco in American Samoa. Reports indicate that RFK exploited two infants' deaths, claiming they were caused by the MMR vaccine, when, in fact, the deaths resulted from provider mistakes.

Plus, childhood vaccination rates have been falling over the past few years. If autism debates or stringent vaccine policies accelerate this, it could lead to a resurgence of vaccine-eradicated diseases. Moreover, STAT recently reported that two senior officials with the Biden administration warned that there could be serious consequences for children if the country had to relearn the hard lessons about the public health benefits of vaccines on human health.

Whether Kennedy will be confirmed as HHS secretary or eventually refuel the debate over autism and vaccines during his term is unclear. He has, however, distanced himself from anti-vaccine rhetoric in recent weeks, likely to soften his stance in the eyes of the Senate as confirmation hearings approach.