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 HHS Secretary 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."
At a May lunch at the president’s golf course in northern Virginia, President Trump asked Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., why he wasn’t doing more to probe the alleged connection between vaccines and autism, according to people familiar with the matter. The health secretary had the yips, Trump told Kennedy, according to one of the people.
Kennedy was taken aback. Even though he has long been known to be skeptical of vaccinations, he had been asked by White House political advisers to tone down his vaccine efforts ahead of the midterms, the people said.
Now, it was the commander in chief who was pushing to make the study of vaccines and autism more of a priority. The president steers nearly every conversation with his health secretary back to the issue, some of the people said.
Chief among the president’s desires: Do more to reduce the number of shots that federal guidelines recommend for children, according to people familiar with the matter. They said the president hopes to then see autism rates drop, even if any such effect could take years.
The issue has been an ongoing point of tension between the two men. In a mid-June meeting in the Oval Office, the president vented to Kennedy that he wasn’t doing enough, people familiar with the matter said.
The president has made clear he thinks he has given Kennedy enough time and is disappointed the health secretary hasn’t accomplished more in the past year and a half, the people said.
As early as 2007, Trump was raising doubts about vaccines. “When I was growing up, autism wasn’t really a factor,” Trump told a Florida newspaper. “And now all of a sudden, it’s an epidemic. Everybody has their theory. My theory, and I study it because I have young children, my theory is the shots. We’ve giving these massive injections at one time, and I really think it does something to the children.”
Between 2012 and 2015, he repeatedly tweeted about the topic and disparaged medical professionals. A few examples:
During an early primary debate in the 2016 presidential race, he repeated his claim about vaccines and autism. Accordingly, he had the support of Dr. Andrew Wakefield, author of the fraudulent 1998 article that fueled the contemporary anti-vaccine movement. And for the record, as study after study has shown, there is no connection between vaccines and autism.
- “Autism rates through the roof — why doesn’t the Obama administration do something about doctor-inflicted autism. We lose nothing to try.”
- “Healthy young child goes to doctor, gets pumped with massive shot of many vaccines, doesn’t feel good and changes — AUTISM. Many such cases!”
- “I am being proven right about massive vaccinations — the doctors lied. Save our children & their future.”
- “So many people who have children with autism have thanked me — amazing response. They know far better than fudged up reports!”
