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.
Polls show that many Americans either believe the myth or think it could be true.
Harvard Youth Poll of 2,040 18-to-29-year-olds, November 2025:
- Only 34% are very confident vaccines are safe, while another 33% are fairly confident — meaning two-thirds express some confidence, but “strong” confidence is limited.
- Partisan differences are stark: 84% of Democrats are confident in vaccine safety (60% very confident), compared with 54% of Republicans (only 15% very confident) and 65% of independents (30% very confident, 36% fairly confident).
- Racial gaps in vaccine confidence are substantial. While 74% of white young Americans are confident in vaccine safety (41% very confident), confidence drops sharply among Black youth (46% confident; only 17% very confident) and Hispanic youth (58% confident; 27% very confident). Nearly half of Black respondents (47%) say they are not confident vaccines are safe.
- Concerns about a supposed vaccine–autism link persist among some young Americans. Twelve percent (12%) of young Americans believe there is a link between vaccines and autism, 58% say no, while 27% are unsure. Republicans (25% say yes, 41% no, 34% not sure) are about five times more likely than Democrats (4% yes, 81% no, 13% not sure) to believe there is a link. Among independents only 9% believe there's a link (57% no, 31% not sure).
