In The Politics of Autism, I analyze the myth that vaccines cause autism. This bogus idea can hurt people by allowing diseases to spread. Examples include measles, COVID, flu, and polio.
A number of posts discussed Trump's support for the discredited notion.
Another leading anti-vaxxer is presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. He has repeatedly compared vaccine mandates to the Holocaust. Rolling Stone and Salon retracted an RFK article linking vaccines to autism. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen."
He is now Trump's nominee to head HHS.
His antivax organization has the Orwellian name of "Children's Health Defense."
Today, CHD is a prolific content creator and a leading source of false and misleading claims about vaccines — including the long-debunked false claim that vaccines cause autism. It operates a daily newsletter, a streaming video channel, and a movie division. In 2020, it helped finance a sequel to the viral "Plandemic" video, which baselessly alleged the COVID-19 pandemic was planned as part of a global conspiracy. The next year it put out a film targeting disproven claims about vaccines at Black Americans.
Legal advocacy is also a significant focus of CHD's work. In 2019, the group unsuccessfully sued New York over the state's school vaccine requirements amid a measles outbreak. During the COVID pandemic its legal work ballooned, CHD president Mary Holland said in an interview with NPR.
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[Dr. Paul] Offit said he is seeing evidence that confidence in vaccines is eroding among some Americans, pointing to falling vaccination rates for kindergarteners and rising cases of measles and whooping cough.
"The voices of misinformation and disinformation have gotten louder and better funded and more ubiquitous. So it's much, much harder to push against that," Offit said. "And I do think at heart, most people do trust their doctors. Most people do get vaccinated. Most people do trust vaccines. But I think what's happened is you're starting to see a fraying at the edges."
Kennedy is still on leave from CHD, and while his name remains on some of its lawsuits, Holland said he is "not involved on a day-to-day basis." She declined to comment on whether CHD would change its legal strategy if Kennedy were to be confirmed as HHS secretary.
Last month, on her weekly online broadcast, Holland celebrated Kennedy's nomination.
"Game on. We are really there," she told her co-host, Polly Tommey. "And it's not going to be easy, Polly, but look at how far we've come.
