Vaccination and Measles

 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.

From CDC:

As of August 5, 2025, a total of 1,356 confirmed* measles cases were reported by 41 jurisdictions: Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, New York State, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

There have been 32 outbreaks** reported in 2025, and 87% of confirmed cases (1,177 of 1,356) are outbreak-associated. For comparison, 16 outbreaks were reported during 2024 and 69% of cases (198 of 285) were outbreak-associated.

*CDC is aware of probable measles cases being reported by jurisdictions. However, the data on this page only includes confirmed cases.

**CDC reports the cumulative number of measles outbreaks (defined as 3 or more related cases) that have occurred this year in the U.S.; states have the most up-to-date information about cases and outbreaks in their jurisdictions....

 

Age

• Under 5 years: 386 (28%)
• 5-19 years: 501 (37%)
• 20+ years: 462 (34%)
• Age unknown: 7 (1%)

Vaccination Status

• Unvaccinated or Unknown: 92%
• One MMR dose: 4%
• Two MMR doses: 4%

U.S. Hospitalizations in 2025  13% of cases hospitalized (171 of 1356).

Percent of Age Group Hospitalized

• Under 5 years: 21% (82 of 386)
• 5-19 years: 8% (40 of 501)
• 20+ years: 11% (49 of 462)
• Age unknown: 0% (0 of 7)

U.S. Deaths in 2025 There have been 3 confirmed deaths from measles.

Elizabeth Williams, Jennifer Kates, and Josh Michaud at KFF:

Routine vaccination rates for kindergarten children continue to decline in the U.S., while exemptions from school vaccination requirements, particularly non-medical exemptions, have increased. These trends began during the COVID-19 pandemic and have continued over time (Figure 1). Recent trends appear to be related to increasing vaccine hesitancy, fueled in part by vaccine misinformation. The past few years have seen more skepticism among the public about the safety and effectiveness of measles vaccines, a decline in trust of health authorities in general, and increasingly partisan views on vaccine requirements. 

What Is Inclusion?

 In The Politics of Autism, I write about special education and inclusion.

Perrelet, V., Veyre, A., Chawki, L., Margot, C., & Cappe, É. (2025). What are we targeting when we support inclusive education for autistic students? A systematic review of 233 empirical studies and call for community partnerships. Autism, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/13623613251352223

Lay abstract:

Multiple complex considerations are involved in supporting mainstream schooling for autistic students. This systematic review aimed to describe inclusive education interventions and outcome measures for autistic students. A total of 233 experimental studies were analyzed. Furthermore, consultation sessions with autistic people, parents, and inclusive education professionals were organized to enable in-depth interpretation of the results using a participatory approach. Cognitive-behavioral interventions were the most common intervention type in the international scientific literature, and social interactions of autistic children were the most frequently targeted outcomes. A lack of consensus on how to measure school inclusion and participation was found. Although some studies considered perspectives on the acceptability of interventions, most of them failed to evaluate implementation aspects. The lived experience experts highlighted tensions between the systematic review findings and the practical realities of inclusive education; this led to discussions about the possible application of the United Nations’ definition of inclusion. Overall, empirical research supporting the inclusion of autistic students aligns more closely with the concept of integration, which requires students to adapt to the school context. The focus of inclusion has been shifting from minimizing the unique traits of students with special needs to adapting the environment for them to take a greater part in school activities.

The Paradox of Invisible Disabilities

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the day-to-day challenges facing autistic people and their families -- as well as efforts to mitigate them.   One challenge is that autism is an "invisible disability," which does not have obvious physical markers.  

Russell Lehmann at Psychology Today:

The paradox of invisible disabilities is a cruel and exhausting loop. Society tells me to mask my autism, to blend in, to not make others uncomfortable, and to play the game that is intrinsically antithetical to everything I stand for. I’m rewarded when I suppress my traits, when I wear the cloak of “normalcy,” when I pretend that sensory overload doesn’t feel like my brain's on fire and electric currents through my skin.

I’m told I’m “high-functioning,” “inspiring,” “not like the others”...as if that’s a compliment. As if my ability to suffer silently makes me more valuable. And let's be clear, it DOES make me more "valuable" in the eyes of society because society isn't ready for my autism. It isn't ready for the rare vulnerability, the intense meltdowns, or the complete authenticity.

But the moment I need support, the mask backfires. Suddenly, I’m met with skepticism. “You don’t look disabled.” “You seem fine to me.” “Are you sure you need that?” "Well you must be doing well, I mean, look how far you've come!".

Because my challenges are largely invisible, I’ve been denied professional support time and time again. People fixate on what I can do, often using infantilizing or condescending language, while dismissing what I can’t. When I speak up about my limits, I’m told not to be so negative, as if naming my pain makes me the problem. But no one tells someone with a broken leg that their pain is just “pessimism.” The irony is, many of these dismissive voices come from professionals working in the disability space, people who should know better.

Autism CARES Appropriation

 In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the congressional role in the issue.

From Autism Speaks:

We are happy to share that on July 31, 2025, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed a bill and accompanying report – with bipartisan support – that provides funding for these critical federal autism programs at levels called for by the Autism CARES Act. We are grateful to the Committee’s leadership and members for working to deliver on the promise of the Autism CARES Act through this appropriations bill. We are also grateful to Senator Amy Klobuchar who led a letter to the committee requesting funding for these key priorities. This is an important milestone in the annual funding process and as Congress continues to work through fiscal year 2026 appropriation bills, it will be critical for the autism community to continue to let their lawmakers know how important these investments are.

What did the Senate bill include?

The bill and accompanying report detail the specific funding amounts for different federal agencies as well as directions on how those funds should be used during the next fiscal year. It includes:

• $56.344 million for autism research and training programs at the Health Resources & Services Administration. This includes healthcare training through Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Other Related Disabilities (LEND) program sites in every state and Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics (DBP) Training programs that help address a nationwide DBP shortage.
• $28.1 million for autism programs at the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention, which includes autism prevalence studies through the ADDM Network and outreach efforts that improve early diagnosis and intervention.

It also calls on the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to not only fund autism research at least at the level authorized by the Autism CARES Act of 2024, but also to implement many of the law’s new provisions. Specifically, the committee called on the NIH to:

• Provide an annual budget estimate for autism research based on the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee’s Strategic Plan, creating a transparent plan that outlines a strategic direction and resource needs for autism research;
• Ensure that autistic individuals across the spectrum, including those with profound autism, are included in research studies;
• Ensure that all research activities for autism follow widely-accepted scientific practices in order to ensure research integrity;
• Ensure that research addresses the underlying biology of autism, co-occurring medical conditions, and treatment and services needs of people with autism;
• Create new pathways for the public to obtain information and comment on autism research activities; and
• Promptly reestablish the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC).

Roim Rachok

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss military personnel and military families.  The IDF recruits autistic soldiers.

Policy entrepreneurs and policy change when politicians are absent: The inclusion of autistic individuals in the Israel Defense Forces Ben Kizel & Nissim Cohen The University of Haifa, paper for the International Public Policy Association.

Abstract 

How do policy entrepreneurs achieve policy change in the absence of the direct involvement of politicians? While the public policy literature has examined the conditions under which politicians refrain from direct engagement in policy design, less attention has been paid to the strategies policy entrepreneurs employ when political actors are absent from the policy arena. We address this gap by examining how policy entrepreneurs independently advance policy change. Drawing on 30 in-depth interviews and textual analysis, and using the “Roim Rachok” (“Looking Ahead”) program, which facilitates the inclusion of individuals on the autism spectrum in the Israel Defense Forces as a case study, we have several indications of the strategies of policy entrepreneurs in the absence of political involvement. First, the policy entrepreneurs operated through institutionalized collaborative networks for funding. Second, they leveraged Israel's security challenges as a structured framework to advance change. Third, the policy entrepreneurs created an organizational infrastructure. Fourth, they used trust building as a strategy when collaborating with security organizations.

From the article:

The "Roim Rachok" program was founded in 2012 by two former employees of the Israeli Defense Ministry. It was not a project undertaken by the Israeli government. Its goal is to include those on the autism spectrum in the IDF, specifically in military professions where the distinctive abilities of this population can address personnel shortages. Thus, the program regards integrating individuals on the autism spectrum as an operational imperative for the military rather than a charitable endeavor aimed at supporting a disadvantaged population (Greenbank et al., 2024). 

 

Bots, Vaccines, and RFK Jr.

 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.

I have often posted criticism of Kennedy and linked to these posts on social media.  Lately, bots have been respondin with praise for his "transparency," even though he lies like the rest of us breathe. John Collier reports at NBC (h/t Brandy Zadrozny):

A previously unreported network of hundreds of accounts on X is using artificial intelligence to automatically reply to conservatives with positive messages about people in the Trump administration, researchers say.

...

The network, tracked for NBC News by both the social media analytics company Alethea and researchers at Clemson University, consists of more than 400 identified bot accounts, though the number could be far larger, the researchers say. Its accounts offer consistent praise for key Trump figures, particularly support for Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.

As often is the case with bot accounts, those viewed by NBC News tended to have only a few dozen followers, and their posts rarely get many views. But a large audience does not appear to be the point. Their effectiveness, if they have any, is in the hope that they contribute to a partisan echo chamber, and that en masse they can “massage perceptions,” said Darren Linvill, the director of Clemson University’s Media Forensics Hub, which studies online disinformation campaigns.

Mary Kekatos at ABC:

The members of a federal vaccine advisory committee, who were removed by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., are suggesting alternatives to vaccine policy in the U.S. because the panel has "lost credibility."

In early June, Kennedy dismissed all 17 sitting members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on vaccine recommendations.

Kennedy replaced the group with his own, hand-selected members, many of whom had expressed skeptical views on vaccines.

Since then, the committee has recommended against flu vaccines containing thimerosal -- a preservative that has been falsely linked to autism -- has said the childhood immunization schedule will be studied and has cast doubt on whether newborns need the hepatitis B vaccine.

In a commentary published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, the former members wrote that the rigorous process for recommending vaccines is "rapidly eroding."

The Future of Special Education Complaints

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the civil rights of people with autism and other disabilities.

Lauren Wagner & Beth Hawkins at The 74:

The law that created the state complaint processes, the IDEA, guarantees disabled students’ educational rights. By contrast, the ADA, passed in 1990, outlaws discrimination against people who need accommodations to access public facilities and programs — including schools.

Families of children denied special education services can assert their rights under either law. When states fail to enforce a student’s educational rights under IDEA, families often file a discrimination complaint via the ADA.

In the 2022-23 school year, more than 54,000 state dispute resolution requests were filed in the U.S. and its territories, including due process complaints, written state complaints and mediation requests. The Office for Civil Rights had about 12,000 open cases — half of them involving disability discrimination — when its staff was slashed in March. For fiscal year 2026, which started July 1, the White House’s proposed OCR budget is $91 million, a 35% drop.

At the same time, the administration wants to move $33 million that currently funds state advocacy clearinghouses into block grants that states — cash-strapped as their federal pandemic funds run out — can use for other things. This means families risk losing a second source of leverage: free assistance from experts.

If enacted, both budget cuts would also exacerbate socioeconomic and racial disparities in the services kids with disabilities receive, says Carrie Gillispie, a senior policy analyst at New America. This is because families in states where there’s little appetite for local enforcement depend on OCR to investigate discrimination.

“Those discrepancies that exist will only worsen if these budget changes happen,” Gillispie says. “It’s a choice to continue to underinvest.”

With the federal office a hollow shell of what it was six months ago, advocates say, families are likely to rely more heavily on their states. And how — and how well — each state helps students with disabilities varies widely.

 

1333

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. 

From CDC:

As of July 29, 2025, a total of 1,333 confirmed* measles cases were reported by 40 jurisdictions: Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York City, New York State, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming.

There have been 29 outbreaks** reported in 2025, and 87% of confirmed cases (1,156 of 1,333) are outbreak-associated. For comparison, 16 outbreaks were reported during 2024 and 69% of cases (198 of 285) were outbreak-associated.

*CDC is aware of probable measles cases being reported by jurisdictions. However, the data on this page only includes confirmed cases.

**CDC reports the cumulative number of measles outbreaks (defined as 3 or more related cases) that have occurred this year in the U.S.; states have the most up-to-date information about cases and outbreaks in their jurisdictions

RFK Jr. v. VICP

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. 

Sareen Habeshian at Axios:

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took aim Monday at vaccine makers' federal liability protections.

The big picture: Kennedy, who has repeatedly pushed the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism and in the past was involved in litigation over patient injury claims, has argued in the past that the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) takes away manufacturers' incentive to make vaccines safe.

Zoom in: Kennedy is proposing an overhaul to the VICP, which was established by law in 1986 in response to the threat of vaccine lawsuits leading to shortages.

...

 Between the lines: Weakening or removing liability protections for certain vaccines could be the thing that makes manufacturers contemplate leaving the market, experts say — or at least causes them to significantly raise prices, Axios' Caitlin Owens reports.

Christina Jewett at NYT:

Mr. Kennedy could use the effort as a platform to further erode trust in vaccines, said Dorit Reiss, a law professor at the University of California, San Francisco, who has studied the program.

“It’s setting them up for changes that will make the program compensate cases out of hand without actually evaluating the cases, including cases that are almost certainly false,” she said.

Mr. Kennedy and his close allies have pressed cases in the compensation court and in other courts for years, including a trial in 2022 in which Mr. Kennedy gave a closing argument. The case sought to hold a doctor liable for causing autism by vaccinating a boy. The jury sided with the doctor.

 

Most States Fail to Meet IDEA Requirements

 In The Politics of Autism, I write about social services, special education and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. 

 In The Politics of Autism, I write about social services, special education and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. 

From the US Department of Education:

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) issued its 2025 determinations for States on their implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) for Part B and Part C. The IDEA requires the Department to issue an annual determination, based on the State Performance Plan (SPP) and Annual Performance Report (APR), which evaluates the State’s efforts to implement the requirements and purposes of the IDEA, and describes how the State will improve its implementation. The Part B SPP/APR and Part C SPP/APR include indicators that measure child and family results, and other indicators that measure compliance with the requirements of the IDEA. Since 2015, the Part B SPP/APR and Part C SPP/APR have included a State Systemic Improvement Plan through which each State focuses its efforts on improving a State-selected child or family outcome.  

...

Following is a list of each State’s performance in meeting the requirements of IDEA Part B, which serves students with disabilities, ages 3 through 21:  

MEETS REQUIREMENTS  Connecticut  Illinois  Indiana  Kansas  Kentucky  Massachusetts  Maryland  Minnesota  Missouri  North Dakota  Nebraska  New Hampshire  New Jersey  Ohio  Pennsylvania    Republic of the Marshall Islands  Texas  Virginia  Wisconsin  Wyoming 

NEEDS ASSISTANCE (one year) Alabama Florida Georgia Washington 

NEEDS ASSISTANCE (two or more consecutive years)  Alaska  Arkansas  American Samoa  Arizona  California  Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands  Colorado  Delaware  Federated States of Micronesia Guam Hawaii Iowa  Idaho  Louisiana  Maine  Michigan  Mississippi  Montana  North Carolina  New Mexico  New York Nevada Oklahoma Oregon  Republic of Palau  Rhode Island Puerto Rico  South Carolina  South Dakota  Tennessee  Utah  Virgin Islands  Vermont  West Virginia 

NEEDS INTERVENTION Bureau of Indian Education District of Columbia 

MAHA: Marketing Anti-Science Harms America

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. 

Andrew Gumbel at The Observer:

Kennedy’s anti-science, slash-and-burn approach is particularly frustrating to autism campaigners, who had hoped he was sincere about answering the question of what causes the condition – answers that might go a long way towards steering many parents and adult sufferers away from conspiracy theories.

But what those advocates have seen is a gutting of research funds. Instead of deepening work into genetic causes of autism, Kennedy has indulged his obsession with one thing scientists are now quite confident does not cause autism: childhood vaccination.

“[Kennedy] acts as if there’s a single environmental toxin that nobody who has been studying autism for the past 25 years has been able to find,” said Alison Singer of the Autism Science Foundation. “We are in fact making really good progress in finding the causes of autism, and yet the administration that says it wants to find the causes is decimating the scientific infrastructure of university-based research.”

Discouraging the vaccination of pregnant women was counterproductive, Singer argued, because research indicates that rubella, flu or Covid during pregnancy could be aggravating factors for autism. Proposing a registry of Americans with autism without explaining its purpose, as Kennedy’s department did in April, risked alarming people and deterring parents from seeking help for their autistic children, she added.

“RFK Jr is a data denier,” Singer argued. “There’s this hypothesis he’s had for 20 years that vaccines cause autism and he disregards anything that contradicts it. You can’t be so entrenched in your own beliefs that you can’t see the data in front of you.”

In going against that data, Kennedy has also politicised the country’s public health – a process Trump himself began during the Covid pandemic by floating untested remedies like injecting disinfectant or “hit[ting] the body with … very powerful light” and conflating medical expertise with the elitism of what he calls the “radical left”.

Now Kennedy is justifying many of his most radical policy shifts as a response to “waste, administrative bloat and duplication” created by the Democrats under President Biden – the implication being that attacking the experts and attacking Democrats amount to the same thing.

ADA 35

In The Politics of Autism, I discuss the civil rights of people with autism and other disabilities.

On this day in 1990, George H.W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act:

 Barbara Merrill and Tony Coelho at TIME:

Yet, as we celebrate the ADA's enduring legacy this year, the future for people with disabilities looks less certain. The ADA’s vision is not self-sustaining. Its promise is fulfilled through an ecosystem of vital support services, many of which rely on Medicaid funding. For millions of Americans living with disabilities, Medicaid is a lifeline that provides access to essential home- and community-based services (HCBS). These services include the most basic activities of daily living like bathing, dressing, eating, and more, as well as the residential programs, employment supports, and assistive technologies that allow people with I/DD to live with dignity in their own homes and communities. These services are at the heart of the ADA and crucial to making inclusion a reality.


Following the passage of President Donald Trump’s tax bill, which will cut aproximately $1 trillion from Medicaid over the next several years, these support systems are in jeopardy. This attack on Medicaid threatens to unravel decades of progress toward equal opportunity for individuals with disabilities, as access to these services will undoubtedly become more limited.

 

Trump wants to criminalize and institutionalize the unhoused while slashing funding for housing, mental health care, and veterans’ services. You don’t get to gut the social safety net AND cage the fallout.

This executive order is just cruelty masquerading as policy. https://t.co/bnh0MGmzus

— Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (@repcleaver) July 25, 2025

Collateral Damage of the Vaccine-Autism Myth

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. 

Apoorva Mandavilli:

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday formally rescinded federal recommendations for all flu vaccines containing thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative that the anti-vaccine movement has falsely linked to autism.

The decision cements a move last month by vaccine advisers whom Mr. Kennedy named to the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices after abruptly firing all 17 previous members.

After hearing a presentation by the former leader of an anti-vaccine group, the panel had voted to walk back federal recommendations for all flu vaccines containing thimerosal.

...

The thimerosal decision will not affect most Americans seeking flu vaccines: The preservative is added to multidose vials of flu vaccines to prevent bacteria from growing, but it is not an ingredient of the single-dose vials administered to most people.

During the 2024-25 respiratory virus season, only 3 percent of children and 2 percent of older adults received flu vaccines containing thimerosal, according to an analysis of electronic health records by Truveta, a company that analyzes such records.

Still, multidose vials are needed in places where it is difficult to store many vaccines, such as nursing homes or mobile clinics serving remote rural areas.

Mr. Kennedy’s sign-off does not withdraw vaccines containing thimerosal from the market. But his rescinding the federal recommendation means that such shots may not be available to Americans, because insurance companies are no longer required to cover them