RFK Might Bankrupt the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program

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 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.

He is now Trump's Secretary of HHS. 

Grossi, Peter, An Outline on How Adding Autism to the National Vaccine Compensation Program Would Likely Destroy It (August 31, 2025). Harvard Public Law Working Paper Forthcoming, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=5425514 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5425514

Abstract

Secretary Kennedy and his colleagues at HHS/CDC may soon officially declare that one or more of the childhood vaccines cause autism. This article outlines the impact of such a sea-change on the docket, and then the very survival, of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) -- a federal "no fault" system which Secretary Kennedy has long opposed as a brake on state tort litigation.

Using CDC data (published before Secretary Kennedy's appointment), we show that the number of "profound" autism claims that could immediately be filed in the VICP would exceed the total number of all claims processed by the Program for all injuries from all vaccines over the Program's entire 40-year history. And that massive number of new claims will then bankrupt the Program.

Specifically, we show that the immediate docket of profound autism claims within the 3-year limitations period would likely command compensation awards totaling nearly $100 Billion, with awards thereafter running at about $30 Billion each year. Those awards would quickly consume the current $4 Billion balance in the VICP Trust Fund--a fund which, by federal law can only be replenished by an excise take that generates about $250 Million a year -- less than 1% of the amount needed to cover the projected annual autism awards.

We then assess the intractable problems with any effort to limit such claims or any other strategy to avoid the Fund's insolvency. We conclude with a discussion of how that insolvency would unleash the type of unrestrained state tort litigation (with risks running at a rate at least 5000 times greater than the risks from the injuries currently covered by the VICP) -- litigation which Congress properly concluded would compel the manufacturers to cease production, leaving the nation with no childhood vaccines at all.

Keywords: Vaccine, Autism, VICP, Vaccine Act, NVICP, Vaccine Compensation, Vaccine Injury, Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, measles, MMRV, Immunization, Vaccine Court, ASD

IACC Nominations

  In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the Inter-Agency Autism Coordinating Committee and research priorities.

AGENCY: National Institutes of Health, HHS.

ACTION: Notice.

SUMMARY: The Office of the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is seeking nominations of individuals to serve as non-federal public members on the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC).

DATES: Nominations will be accepted through Monday, November 10, 2025.

ADDRESSES: Nominations are due by Monday, November 10, 2025 and may be sent to Dr. Susan Daniels, Director, Office of National Autism Coordination/NIMH/NIH, 6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 6119, Bethesda, Maryland 20892 by standard or express mail, or via email to IACCPublicInquiries@mail.nih.gov. Please include full contact information (address, phone number, and email). Electronic confirmation of receipt will be provided. More information about the IACC is available at https://iacc.hhs.gov/​.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Susan Daniels/Office of National Autism Coordination via email at IACCPublicInquiries@mail.nih.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

As specified in the Combating Autism Act of 2006 (Pub. L. 109-416) and reauthorized by the Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education and Support Act of 2024 (Pub. L. 118-180).

The Office of National Autism Coordination (ONAC) of the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health is assisting the Department in conducting an open nomination process. Appointments of non-federal public members to the committee shall be made by the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Eligibility Requirements

Nominations of new non-federal public members are encouraged, and previous non-federal public members may also be re-nominated to serve if they have served only one term previously, in accordance with 42 U.S.C. 280i-2(c)(3). Self-nominations and nominations of other individuals are both permitted. Only one nomination per individual is required. Multiple nominations of the same individual will not increase likelihood of selection. The Secretary may select non-federal public members from the pool of submitted nominations and other sources as needed to meet statutory requirements and to form a balanced committee that represents a broad range of expertise and perspectives within the autism community in the United States and its territories.

Those eligible for nomination include individuals on the autism spectrum; parents, guardians, or family members of individuals on the autism spectrum; leaders or representatives of major autism research, advocacy, and service organizations; healthcare and service providers; educators; researchers; and other individuals with professional or personal experience with autism. Nominations of individuals from all U.S. states and territories, and individuals representing a range of lived experience, community service perspectives, and/or professional expertise within the autism community are encouraged. Nominations of individuals with a variety of disability and support needs are encouraged; requests for reasonable accommodation to enable participation on the Committee should be indicated in the nomination submission.

IACC non-federal public members are appointed as special government employees (SGEs) and are required to be at least 18 years old and U.S. citizens. Male non-federal public members must have signed up for the U.S. Selective Service in order to be eligible. To serve, SGEs must submit an annual confidential financial disclosure report used to determine conflicts of interest as well as a foreign activities questionnaire. Prohibited foreign activities include holding a position or title with a foreign governmental entity (including certain universities), and from receiving compensation and certain gifts from a foreign government. In accordance with White House Office of Management and Budget guidelines ( https://www.federalregister.gov/​articles/​2014/​08/​13/​2014-19140/​revised-guidance-on-appointment-of-lobbyists-to-federal-advisory-committees-boards-and-commissions), federally-registered lobbyists are not eligible. Federal employees may not serve as non-federal public members. IACC non-federal public members may be restricted from serving on other federal advisory committees while serving on the IACC and are subject to standard background checks associated with federal employment.

Responsibilities of Appointed Non-Federal Public Members

As specified in the Committee's authorizing statute (section 399CC of the Public Health Service Act, 42 U.S.C. 280i-2, as amended), the Committee will carry out the following responsibilities: (1) on a regular basis, monitor autism spectrum disorder research, and to the extent practicable, services and support activities, across all relevant Federal departments and agencies, including coordination of Federal activities with respect to autism spectrum disorder; (2) summarize advances in autism spectrum disorder research related to causes, prevention, treatment, early screening, diagnosis or ruling out a diagnosis; interventions, including school and community-based interventions, and access to services and supports for individuals with autism spectrum disorder across the lifespan of such individuals; (3) make recommendations to the Secretary regarding any appropriate changes to such activities, including with respect to the strategic plan; (4) make recommendations to the Secretary regarding public participation in decisions relating to autism spectrum disorder, and the process by which public feedback can be better integrated into such decisions; (5) develop a strategic plan for the conduct of, and support for, autism spectrum disorder research, which shall include (A) proposed budgetary requirements; and (B) recommendations to ensure that autism spectrum disorder research, and services and support activities to the extent practicable, of the Department of Health and Human Services and of other Federal departments and agencies are not unnecessarily duplicative; and (6) submit to Congress and the President: (A) an annual update on the summary of advances; and (B) a biennial update to the strategic plan, including progress made in achieving the goals outlined in such strategic plan and any specific measures taken pursuant to such strategic plan.

Committee Composition

In accordance with the Committee's authorizing statute, “Not more than 1/2 , but not fewer than 1/3 , of the total membership of the Committee shall be composed of non-Federal public members appointed by the Secretary.”

All non-Federal public members are appointed as Special Government Employees for their service on the IACC, of which:

• At least three such members shall be individuals with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder; and
• At least three such members shall be parents or legal guardians of an individual with an autism spectrum disorder; and
• At least three such members shall be representatives of leading research, advocacy, and service organizations for individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

The Department strives to ensure that the membership of HHS Federal advisory committees is balanced in terms of points of view represented and the committee's function. Every effort is made to ensure that a range of perspectives and expertise are represented on HHS Federal advisory committees and, therefore, the Department encourages nominations of qualified candidates, including individuals with disabilities, from across the United States and its territories. Appointment to this Committee shall be made free from all forms of discrimination on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, age, disability, or sex.

Member Terms

Non-Federal public members of the Committee “shall serve for a term of 4 years and may be reappointed for one additional 4-year term. Any member appointed to fill a vacancy for an unexpired term shall be appointed for the remainder of such term. A member [with a valid appointment] may serve after the expiration of the member's term until a successor has been appointed.”

Meetings and Travel

“The Committee shall meet at the call of the chairperson or upon the request of the Secretary. The Committee shall meet not fewer than 2 times each year.” In the years 2021-2024, the IACC typically held 3-4 meetings per year, including full committee, subcommittee, working and planning group meetings, and workshops. Meetings were held as either hybrid meetings with both in-person and videoconference accessibility, or as videoconference only. Travel expenses are provided for non-federal public Committee members to facilitate in-person attendance at hybrid meetings. Members are expected to be committed to making every effort to attend, either in-person or by video conference, all IACC full committee meetings and workshops and relevant subcommittee, working and planning group meetings. Accessible meeting design is employed, and reasonable accommodations are provided to facilitate full participation of individuals with disabilities.

Submission Instructions and Deadline

Nominations should include a cover letter of no longer than 3 pages describing the candidate's interest in seeking appointment to the IACC, including relevant personal/lived, professional, and/or community service experience with autism; indication of any membership eligibility requirements met; disability accommodation requests; and an indication of commitment to attend IACC meetings if selected; as well as full contact information and a current resume or curriculum vitae. Up to 2 letters of support are permitted in addition to the nomination, with a page limit of 3 pages per letter. Please do not include other materials unless requested.

Nominations are due by Monday, November 10, 2025. Nominations may be sent to Dr. Susan Daniels, Director, Office of National Autism Coordination/NIMH/NIH, 6001 Executive Boulevard, Room 6119, Bethesda, Maryland 20892 by standard or express mail, or via email to IACCPublicInquiries@mail.nih.gov. Please include full contact information (address, phone number, and email). Electronic confirmation of receipt will be provided. More information about the IACC is available at https://iacc.hhs.gov/​.

Susan A. Daniels,

Director, Office of National Autism Coordination, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health.

Trump and Stigma

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the issue's role in campaign politics.   In the 2016 campaign, a number of posts discussed Trump's bad record on disability issues more generally.   As his words and actions have shown, he despises Americans with disabilities.   He told his nephew Fred that severely disabled people -- such as Fred's son -- should "just die."

Caitlin GIbson at WP:

Ashley Kline had made a point to avoid watching the White House briefing about autism. She already had a sense of what President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. might say, and how it would make her feel to hear them say it. As the mother of a 5-year-old autistic son, she’d decided: “I wouldn’t let it get to me.”

But after the news conference ended Monday, Kline picked up her phone and scrolled through the breaking news stories. As she stood in her kitchen in Indiana, her attention vacillated between the reality around her and the one on her screen. She started cooking dinner for her family. She saw that the president had told pregnant women they should only take Tylenol if they couldn’t “tough it out.” She helped her 5-year-old, Andrew, and his big brother make birthday cards for their dad. She read that Trump had referred to autism as a “horrible, horrible crisis.”

...

To Kline, this kind of rhetoric feels both harmful and ominous. “I definitely fear that if we keep trending along this path where we are buying what these leaders are selling, telling us that autism is horrible and it rips families apart —” Kline pauses. “I don’t want it to get to a point where inclusion is just thrown out the window, and people start insisting that the best thing for autistic children and adults is to be hidden behind walls once again.”

 In the not-too-distant past, autistic people got the label of "retarded" or "mentally ill" and ended up in snakepit institutions such as Creedmoor Psychiatric Center. At The Daily Caller a few weeks ago, Reagan Reese interviewed Trump:

REESE: It’s horrible. I want to get to Russia. I want to ask you another question about D.C. crackdown. Would you be open to the government reopening insane asylums for people with serious mental illness? 

TRUMP: Yeah I would.

REESE: You would?

TRUMP: Yeah I would.

TRUMP: Well, they used to have them, and you never saw people like we had, you know, they used to have them. And what happened is states like New York and California that had them, New York had a lot of them. They released them all into society because they couldn’t afford it. You know, it’s massively expensive. But we had, they were all over New York. I remember when I was growing up, Creedmoor. They had a place, Creedmoor, they had a lot of them, Bellevue, and they were closed by a certain governor. And I remember when they did, it was a long time ago, and I said they didn’t release these people? And they did. They released them into society, and that’s what you have. It’s a rough, it’s a rough situation.

REESE: How soon –

TRUMP: Why is that a big thing? People are thinking about that?

REESE: Well –

TRUMP: Because, you can’t have these people walking around.

A Bit of Good NIH News

 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. The Monday White House news conference with RFK Jr.  was a firehose of lies.

Benjamin Mueller at NYT:

In late May, when the Trump administration issued a call for new research investigating the causes of autism, many scientists feared that anti-vaccine politics would decide which projects received funding.

The call for proposals seemingly gave health officials greater control than usual over the vetting process. Researchers had only weeks to propose studies.

And with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spreading the debunked theory that vaccines caused autism, potential applicants worried openly that the Trump administration might bless only those research projects that would prop up its favored conclusions.

So scientists were cautiously optimistic this week to find that the 13 projects chosen to receive funding from the National Institutes of Health were nothing of the sort.

The projects, which were awarded a combined $50 million, drew on diverse sets of patient data. They were grounded in decades of credible autism science. And they planned to examine how strong genetic explanations for the disease interacted with environmental influences to determine someone’s risk of developing autism.

They represented, in short, the very opposite approach to one that came into focus this week in an explosive news briefing at the White House: unproven claims that Tylenol caused autism, along with a barrage of disproved theories that childhood vaccines were dangerous and had driven up rates of the disease, too.

“We’re very enthusiastic and very optimistic that these projects will lead to important answers, no matter what question they’re looking at,” said Alycia Halladay, the chief science officer at the Autism Science Foundation.

 

RFK's Lies

 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. The Monday White House news conference was a firehose of lies.

Kennedy claimed that 40-70 percent of autism moms thought that vaccines had injured their children.  The lower range figure apparently comes from a decades-old grab sample of just 41 respondents.   The study did not purport to be a measure of public opinion but was rather exploratory research to identify areas for future investigation.  See:

Mercer L, Creighton S, Holden JJ, Lewis ME. Parental perspectives on the causes of an autism spectrum disorder in their children. J Genet Couns. 2006 Feb;15(1):41-50. doi: 10.1007/s10897-005-9002-7. PMID: 16547798.

Mary Kekatos at NPR:

More than a dozen high-quality studies over decades have since found no evidence of a link between childhood vaccines and autism. However, Kennedy has held fast to this claim.

"We have two-and-a-half decades of rigorous, large-scale studies showing that whether you got vaccinated, the timing of your vaccine, which vaccines you got, or what preservatives were in those vaccines, they don't cause autism," [Dr. David] Mandell said. "To relitigate, that means putting resources towards studies that could be put towards looking at treatments or looking at other more legitimate environmental causes or looking at services and supports and things that might improve quality of life."

Kennedy also said on Monday that between 40% and 70% of mothers with autistic children believe their child "was injured by a vaccine" and said it was important to listen to those mothers "instead of gaslighting them."

Mandell said it's unclear where Kennedy obtained his figures. Mandell added that, if the numbers are true, he believes it's due to unsubstantiated claims that have been propagated.

"The reason [mothers] think that is because people in authority, in positions of authority, have been telling them that, and they are using fake data to promulgate this false hypothesis," he said. "When people started telling us that [vaccines cause autism] in the late 1990s and early 2000s, we did believe that, and we put lots of resources into studying it, and we did those studies and found that there was no causal link. So yes, we should lay this to rest."

---

Blast Radius from the Trump News Conference

A number of posts discussed Trump's support for discredited notions about autism The Monday White House news conference was a firehose of lies.

Liz Essley Whyte at WSJ:

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s team had decided by the beginning of September to tell Americans that acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, was a possible cause of autism. But officials were divided over how much emphasis to put on the painkiller and were planning to discuss it as one of many possible causes, people familiar with the matter said.

Doctors that Kennedy had selected to lead key agencies under him—Jay Bhattacharya, Mehmet Oz and Marty Makary—suggested the big story should be leucovorin, a little-known generic drug in which they saw promise for alleviating autism symptoms.


But a meeting with Tylenol’s maker convinced Kennedy to put the emphasis on acetaminophen.

...

The result was the explosive White House news conference Monday, when the president laid out in no uncertain terms that pregnant women should avoid Tylenol (“Don’t take it”), despite the mixed evidence linking the painkiller to autism. The event stunned many of the nation’s doctors and public health experts, some of whom called Trump’s actions dangerous.

In the end, Trump and Kennedy went with their own messaging instincts, and leucovorin became more of an afterthought. Trump didn’t mention it by name at the press conference, giving only a passing mention to a new label for “an existing drug” that may help alleviate autism symptoms. “That’s one of the things that I’m very, very happy about,” he said.

The elderly Trump struggled to pronounce "acetaminophen" and probably did not want to try "leucovorin."

“Ah-ced-uv — well, let’s see how we say that.”

— Trump butchers pronunciation of acetaminophen while announcing his admin is falsely linking it to autism pic.twitter.com/5rwUnDYMCC

— The Recount (@therecount) September 22, 2025

Heidi Ledford at Nature:

According to Martin Makary, head of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the drug leucovorin will help “hundreds of thousands of kids” with autism. But a day after Makary praised leucovorin’s powers at a White House event, some specialists are warning that the science to warrant Makary’s enthusiasm is far from solid.

Those researchers say that the drug’s efficacy has not been established, that scientists don’t know how much of the drug to give or how people should take it, and that safety data in children are lacking. According to the FDA’s current plans, leucovorin will be available to only a minority of autistic people.

All of this has led to widespread confusion, say clinicians, who also worry about the expectations created by Makary and other officials in the administration of US president Donald Trump.

“I’ve heard from a lot of families,” says psychologist Catherine Lord at the University of California, Los Angeles. “The major thing they say is, ‘What is this? What do we do?’”

“I don’t want to get everyone’s hopes up that this is a magic cure,” says Rebecca Schmidt, a molecular epidemiologist at the University of California, Davis. “It’s not for everybody.”

 Jon Hamilton Yuki Noguchi at NPR:

"It's a bit tough to get really, really excited about what they would call a 'miracle drug,'" says Shelby Smith, a Dallas mother of a 6-year-old autistic son who is considered non-verbal. Parents, she says, are accustomed to being peddled vitamins, supplements, and even fake therapies. "It's always something being pushed," Smith says, which can at times then make symptoms worse.

...

Given the lack of conclusive evidence, many doctors and researchers think it's too soon to be suggesting leucovorin as a treatment.

"They are jumping the gun a little bit," says Alycia Halladay, a biopsychologist and chief science officer of the Autism Science Foundation.

The Coalition of Autism Scientists issued a statement saying, "It is premature to claim that leucovorin is an effective treatment for autism."

Medical and scientific groups say they'd like to see the same sort of research on leucovorin that the FDA requires of other drugs: two large, rigorous clinical trials showing that the product lives up to its label.

More on Trump's Cruel Lies

 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. The Monday White House news conference was a firehose of lies.

Tom Wright-Piersanti at NYT:

Much of what Trump said during his press conference was untrue. Here’s a fact-check.

Vaccines: The president said that the childhood immunization schedule “loads up” children with too many vaccines — as many as 80 different shots.

The truth: Children generally receive roughly 30 vaccine doses before the age of 18, according to the C.D.C.’s schedule. And there is no evidence for the idea that vaccines overwhelm their immune system or lead to conditions like autism.

Hepatitis B: Trump said the disease was sexually transmitted — and that children should not be vaccinated against it until they are 12.

The truth: The virus is transmitted sexually. But it can also spread through drops of blood on surfaces or skin, and it is highly transmissible during delivery, so doctors recommended the vaccine at birth.

Tylenol: Speaking about the risks for pregnant women, Trump said, “There is no downside to not taking it.”

The truth: Doctors already advise pregnant women to take Tylenol sparingly. But there are some important uses. A high fever, for example, can endanger both the mother and the baby.

Patrick Oppmann at CNN:

But even though information about how Cuba’s healthcare system treats autism is available to anyone savvy enough to write “Cuba” and “autism” into Google, Trump on Monday made the bizarre and false claim that the island’s poverty has spared Cubans from the condition.

“I mean, there’s a rumor, and I don’t know if it’s so or not, that Cuba, they don’t have Tylenol because they don’t have the money for Tylenol. And they have virtually no autism, OK. Tell me about that one,” Trump said at an event on Monday where he urged pregnant women to avoid taking Tylenol, which he claimed – despite a lack of scientific evidence – could cause autism in their unborn children.

...

While Cuba has reported much lower instances of autism than many developed countries – 0.36 cases per 10,000 people – the island’s health professionals concede that may in part be the result of the lack of resources needed to more widely diagnose the condition.

According to the World Health Organization, in 2021 about 1 in 127 people had autism. But the WHO cautioned, “the prevalence of autism in many low- and middle-income countries is unknown.”


Despite increasingly scant funds, Cuba’s beleaguered health sector is making autism a priority, officials said.

Aria Bendix at NBC:

The Trump administration is hailing a medication called leucovorin for reducing some autism symptoms, but experts who research or treat autism almost uniformly agree the medication should be studied further before it’s rolled out to children or adults.

Leucovorin, also referred to as folinic aid, is a synthetic form of vitamin B9 that requires a prescription. It’s often administered to cancer patients alongside chemotherapy in the form of an IV.

The Food and Drug Administration announced Monday that it's in the process of approving a tablet version for certain autism patients.

Several experts told NBC News that the FDA’s approval could give false hope to families, since not all children with autism may qualify for a prescription and, even if they do, the likelihood of seeing results is uncertain.

Scientists have searched for decades for a drug that can meaningfully reduce autism symptoms, but few have met the rigorous threshold for safety and effectiveness that’s typically set by the FDA. Before Monday, the agency had approved two drugs to treat irritability associated with autism, but none that addressed autism-related communication difficulties, social challenges or repetitive behaviors.

“It’s not like scientists have just been staring at their belly buttons for 20 years, not looking at autism treatments. They have, but the standards have been very high to get it approved,” said Alycia Halladay, chief science officer at the Autism Science Foundation. Her organization, which funds evidence-based autism research, does not recommend leucovorin as a treatment and says more studies are needed.

Leucovorin “doesn’t have the criteria to meet FDA approval, but yet this administration is just doing it anyway. So I wouldn’t exactly call this a win,” Halladay said.

She added that the way the medication was touted at a White House briefing on Monday — as a breakthrough for autism families — doesn’t reflect the details of the FDA’s approval.

The FDA said in a news release that the drug is being approved for patients with cerebral folate deficiency, a rare neurological condition characterized by low levels of vitamin B9 (folate) in the brain. Some researchers suspect the condition is associated with autism, though not all autism patients have it.

(Halladay estimated 10%-30% of autism patients have the condition.

Dishonest, Reckless, and Cruel

 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.

Lena H. Sun and Dan Diamond at WP:

The Monday White House news conference was designed to focus on Tylenol as a potential cause of autism and the drug leucovorin as a potential treatment — already controversial ideas despite the lack of definitive evidence for either. It initially appeared Trump and Kennedy would avoid blaming vaccines.

But in his rambling remarks, Trump called for the MMR vaccine to be given as separate shots; urged the delay of the hepatitis B birth dose until age 12; and urged parents to disregard the established childhood immunization schedule that targets vaccinations to when a child is most susceptible to disease, and called on parents to instead space out shots.

 “They pump so much stuff into those beautiful little babies, it’s a disgrace,” Trump said.

A Washington Post-KFF poll on vaccine views this summer found 41 percent of U.S. parents believe children are healthier when they don’t get multiple shots in one visit. But public health authorities and pediatricians have warned delaying vaccines would mean children would not have immunity against diseases, such as polio and whooping cough, when they are most at risk.

Medical groups and immunization experts condemned his remarks.

“Today’s White House event on autism was filled with dangerous claims and misleading information that sends a confusing message to parents and expecting parents and does a disservice to autistic individuals,” said Susan Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, in a statement.

The article also quotes a leading expert: 

“That was the most dangerously irresponsible press conference in the realm of public health in American history,” said Paul Offit, a pediatrician and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia vaccine researcher who has long sparred with anti-vaccine groups. “Here you have the president of the United States and his bully pulpit, you have the secretary of health and human services and his bully pulpit, both telling you that vaccines are basically causing chronic disorders.”

... 

Causes

Worth repeating in light of today's scheduled White House announcement about acetaminophen:

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss various ideas about what causes the condition.

• Contrary to the lies of Trump and RFK Jr., vaccines do not cause autism.
• Genetics plays an important role.
• Much of the reported increase reflects greater awareness and broadening of diagnostic criteria.
• Beyond that, there is uncertainty about how much true prevalence has increased, and what might be causing such an increase.

Emily Baumgaertner at NYT:

More than 100 genes have been associated with autism, but the disorder appears to result from a complex combination of genetic susceptibilities and environmental triggers.

The C.D.C. has a large-scale study on the risk factors that can contribute to autism, and researchers have examined dozens of potential triggers, including pollution, exposure to toxic chemicals and viral infections during pregnancy.

Some research suggests that babies born to older parents — particularly an older father — may be at increased risk of autism. Other studies hint that premature birth or low birth weight could be associated with autism, which is often linked to high oxidative stress.

The idea that such factors could also be involved in the overall rise in autism is convincing to Juergen Hahn, a professor at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute who studies the computational systems biology of autism, given that both the number of children surviving premature birth and the average age of new parents are rising.

But testing a hypothetical driver of autism would mean controlling for the endless list of other influences on early development and following the child well into adulthood, when some people now receive their diagnosis.

“These are very complicated studies to conduct, especially if you want statistical certainty, and there are no easy answers,” Dr. Hahn said. “Sometimes we just have to say we don’t know. And that always gives people room for speculation.”

...

Researchers also point to the influence of social media as “one of the biggest unrecognized factors driving the explosion of autism diagnoses,” Dr. Baron-Cohen said. Platforms like Reddit, he said, became a space “where people who might wonder if they or their child were autistic could communicate with each other and feel a new sense of belonging and identity,” he said.

Still, for Catherine Lord, a psychologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has developed diagnostic tools and longitudinal studies for autism, the math just isn’t working.

“Some of it is clearly from greater awareness and broader inclusion,” she said. But even if those are the biggest factors driving the surge, and even if biological and environmental factors are contributing as well, she said, “it seems a little far-fetched to think that all of these add up to the increase.”

She is confident, though, from copious data in both the United States and abroad, that heightened autism prevalence does not correspond to childhood immunizations.

“Whatever it is,” she added, “it’s not vaccines.”

Here is a long. growing, and probably incomplete list of other correlates, risk factors, and possible causes that have been the subject of serious studies: 

1. Inflammatory bowel disease;
2. Pesticides;
3. Air pollution and proximity to freeways;
4. Maternal thyroid issues;
5. Autoimmune disorders;
6. Induced labor;
7. Preterm birth;
8. Fever;  
9. Birth by cesarean section;
10. Anesthesia during cesarean sections;
11. Maternal and paternal obesity;
12. Maternal diabetes;
13. Maternal and paternal age;
14. Grandparental age;
15. Maternal post-traumatic stress disorder;
16. Maternal anorexia;
17. Smoking during pregnancy;
18. Cannabis use during pregnancy;
19. Antidepressant use during pregnancy;
20. Polycystic ovary syndrome;
21. Infant opioid withdrawal;
22. Zinc deficiency;
23. Sulfate deficiency;
24. Processed foods;
25. Maternal occupational exposure to solvents;
26. Congenital heart disease;
27. Insufficient placental allopregnanolone.
28. Estrogen in the womb;
29. Morning sickness;
30. Paternal family history;
31. Parental preterm birth;
32. Antiseizure meds
33. Location of forebears
34. Lithium
35. Aspartame
36. BPA
37. Brain inflammation
38. Maternal asthma
39. Infertility
40. Ultraprocessed foods
41. Household chemicals
42. Parental psychiatric disorders
43. Fluoride
44. Fatty acids in umbilical cord blood
45. Maternal inflammation during pregnancy

 

Malevolence Compounded by Incompetence

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 top antivaxxer is HHS Secretary RFK Jr. He is part of the "Disinformation Dozen." He helped cause a deadly 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa. 

David Ovalle, Rachel Roubein and Lena H. Sun at WP:

The chair of a new panel of federal immunization advisers selected by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said Friday that the group’s “enormous depth and knowledge about vaccines, about science” should be obvious to anyone listening to them work.

But medical associations and scientific experts who watched the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices meetings Thursday and Friday panned the panel’s performance as the group reversed recommendations for coronavirus shots and a combined measles, mumps, rubella and chicken pox vaccine.

They said the members were unprepared, misunderstood or ignored key data, and highlighted flawed or inconclusive research often trumpeted by vaccine critics.

“It’s troubling to see the erosion of the committee’s integrity,” Sandra Fryhofer, a physician who spent almost 20 years working with the panel as a liaison from the American Medical Association, told the advisers Friday. “We’re concerned about how vaccine recommendations are being developed by this new panel. Data is being selectively used to justify specific conclusions rather than considering all of the available evidence.”

...

Panel member Evelyn Griffin, a physician who advocates against vaccine mandates and has said she has seen a rise in “bizarre and rare conditions” after coronavirus vaccines were introduced, discussed a study that purportedly found prenatal exposure to coronavirus mRNA vaccines induced “autism-like behavior” in male rats. She did not mention that the study was retracted after the publisher found “inconsistencies” in methodology and data.