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.
In light of the Trump administration's dishonesty and threats to privacy, plans for an autism registry are most disturbing. Because Trump and RFK Jr. have a long history of lying about autism, we have to assume bad faith.
Autism experts and advocates expressed alarm after the Department of Health and Human Services said Wednesday it intends to create a database of enrolled Medicare and Medicaid patients to support a study aimed at identifying the “root causes” of autism.
Under the leadership of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services will partner up to build the database, using insurance claims data, electronic medical records and wearable technology, like smartwatches.
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In a news release, the agency said researchers would focus on autism diagnosis trends, outcomes from medical and behavior therapies, access to care and disparities by demographics and geography, and health care costs.
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There’s a “lack of clarity around how the data will be collected, how it will be shared, maintained, and how we know it’s going to be accurate,” said Alison Singer, president of the Autism Science Foundation, a nonprofit group that helps to fund evidence-based autism research.
Singer said her team has been inundated with calls and emails from people in the autism community concerned over the lack of transparency from federal health officials about how their private medical data would be obtained and managed.
The database project doesn’t include input from the autism community and overlooks well-established genetic links to the disorder, experts say.
“We’ve had expert scientists who have been studying this issue for 20 years,” Singer said. “If there were one environmental toxin, I think we would have found it.”
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Zoe Gross, director of advocacy for the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, said, “None of us have been consulted on this. Under previous administrations, both Democratic and Republican, we have had more contact with HHS and more involvement in major projects involving autism.”
“Had we been able to give input into this, we would have suggested more clarity and different research aids,” Gross said.
