Anti-Vaccine Activism Hurts Children with Autism

No group has suffered more from RFK Jr’s decades-long claim that vaccines cause autism than children with autism.

During the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump posted several tweets: “Healthy young child goes to the doctor, gets pumped with massive shot of vaccines, doesn’t feel good, and changes. AUTISM. Many such cases!” “If I were President, I would…not allow one-time massive shots that a small child cannot take.” “Spread them out over time and autism will drop!” “Tiny children are not horses.”

In January 2017, after Donald Trump won the election, he invited Andrew Wakefield to his inaugural ball. Wakefield was the discredited UK doctor who had published a paper claiming that the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine caused autism. During the event, Wakefield made a video of himself, saying, “Just looking around to see if there is anyone important here—see if I can prevail upon them to make the world a better place for children with autism, a safer place for children. What we need now is a huge shakeup at the CDC.” Years earlier, Wakefield’s paper had been retracted and many studies had shown that the MMR vaccine didn’t cause autism. Wakefield ignored them.

Also in January 2017, Donald Trump met Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and supposedly offered him to head a commission on vaccine safety and scientific integrity. “[Trump] is troubled by questions of the links between certain vaccines and the epidemic of neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism,” said RFK Jr.

With the election of Donald Trump, the inclusion of Andrew Wakefield in an inaugural ball, and the promise to RFK Jr. to head a vaccine safety commission, anti-vaccine activists celebrated. Finally, they had their man in the White House. The CDC, and any other agency that had countered the notion that vaccines caused autism, would soon be turned upside down.

Nothing happened. Quite the opposite. A few years later, a headline in the New York Times, read, “President Trump on Vaccines: From Skeptic to Cheerleader.” In May 2020, Donald Trump announced the launch of Operation Warp Speed, an $11 billion program to speed the development of Covid-19 vaccines. It was one of the single greatest medical and scientific accomplishments in history, estimated to have saved at least 3 million American lives.

Four years passed. In 2024, Donald Trump was elected again. This time, anti-vaccine activists got what they wanted. On November 14, 2024, Trump asked RFK Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which oversees the FDA, NIH, and CDC. During his confirmation hearings, RFK Jr. stood by his claim that vaccines caused autism. Any hope that Trump would oppose RFK Jr.’s false claims was immediately dashed when, on February 4, 2025, Trump tweeted, “20 years ago, Autism in children was 1 in 10,000. NOW ITS 1 in 34. WOW! Something’s really wrong. We need BOBBY!!!” Then, in concert with Project 2025 and the wishes of both Andrew Wakefield and RFK Jr., Donald Trump began to dismantle the CDC.

Vaccines were under siege. Public health officials, clinicians, and academicians were outraged. What was lost in discussions that followed was a recognition of the group that had been hurt the most—children with autism. Why?

First: When Leo Kanner first described autism in the late 1930s, the disorder was considered extremely rare, often confused with schizophrenia. Today, with increased awareness, changes in diagnostic criteria, improved screening and diagnostic tools, and a broadening of the spectrum of the disorder, autism is far more common. Claims by Trump and RFK Jr. that the incidence of autism was skyrocketing because of vaccines fails to consider these factors.

Second: While one clear cause of autism hasn’t been identified, a wealth of research has led to a better understanding. Studies have shown that about 80 percent of autism is genetic. Other factors such as the infant microbiome, more advanced maternal and paternal ages, and the use of certain medications during pregnancy have also been associated with autism. Nonetheless, anti-vaccine activists continue to divert attention and resources away from these far more promising leads.

Third: Because of the decades-long promotion that vaccines cause autism, children with autism and their healthy siblings have significantly lower rates of vaccination than other children. The choice not to vaccinate children doesn’t decrease their chances of developing autism, it only increases their chances of being harmed by a preventable disease.

Despite claims by RFK Jr. and Andrew Wakefield that they want to “make the world a better place for children with autism, a safer place for children,” they have put many children in harm’s way unnecessarily, especially those with autism.