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 helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.
[A]utism advocates say they are fearful that if Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is confirmed as health and human services secretary, it could undermine years of progress in unlinking autism and vaccines, while potentially diverting precious research dollars to a theory already discredited by hundreds of studies worldwide. They warn he would wield vast influence over who sits on committees and steer policy.
And some condemned Kennedy’s past rhetoric around the disability, calling it stigmatizing and insulting.
...
“I do believe that autism comes from vaccines,” Kennedy asserted to Fox News in 2023.
He went on to say that his position was misunderstood; he just wants to test the science behind them. But it’s Kennedy who rejects the science in front of him, critics say.
“Are we [also] reviewing the question about whether the Earth is flat? This is settled science,” said Rep. Kim Schrier, D-Wash., who previously worked as a pediatrician. “We already looked into vaccines. They don’t cause autism, but let’s look elsewhere. And elsewhere might be genetics. It might be the fact that now we’re putting a lot more kids under the umbrella of autism who never would have fallen under that umbrella before. … It could be a lot of things, but bringing up settled science is only going to undermine confidence in vaccines, decrease immunization rates and put the entire population at risk.”
...
“I bet you’ve never met anybody with full-blown autism your age,” Kennedy told podcaster Joe Rogan in 2023, launching into a script he often uses in public appearances. “You know, head-banging, football helmet on, nontoilet trained, nonverbal. I mean, I’ve never met anybody like that at my age, but in my kids’ age now, one in every 34 kids has autism. And half of those are full blown.”
...
Zoe Gross, director of advocacy with the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, noted that the autism diagnosis was still evolving in the ‘60s. She held up Willowbrook as an example of how those with developmental and other types of disabilities were once hidden from society.
“If you look at the video of the conditions that the people in Willowbrook were in, you’ll see the people that RFK Jr. describes as having been missing through his childhood. And you’ll see where they went, where they were forced to go,” Gross said.
...
“He uses this belief that vaccines cause autism to spread a very stigmatizing and negative image of autism, where he says, for example, someone has a vaccine and their ‘brain is gone,’” Gross said of Kennedy. “And by saying their brain is gone, he means they’re autistic.”
Gross, who is autistic, was referencing a 2015 remark by Kennedy in which he compared vaccinating children to the Holocaust. He later apologized for his remarks.
“They get the shot, that night they have a fever of 103 [degrees], they go to sleep, and three months later their brain is gone,” Kennedy said then. “This is a Holocaust, what this is doing to our country.”
Gross called it “fearmongering,” saying: “The idea behind making this link is that it’s better to die of pertussis as a baby than to live as an autistic person.”
