RFK Jr.: Vaccines Cause Autism

What we know

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spent years leading Children's Health Defense, an organisation that systematically spread misinformation about vaccines. According to data from the American Council on Science and Health, he was paid by his own organisation to convince the public and the media that vaccines cause autism - a combination of financial interest and ideological conviction that explains his sustained engagement despite the accumulated weight of contrary evidence.

The WHO, the CDC, the European Medicines Agency, and scientific academies on every continent have reached the same conclusion: there is no causal link between vaccines and autism. Dozens of studies involving tens of thousands to millions of children across seven countries and three continents find no increased risk of autism in vaccinated children compared to unvaccinated children. Senator Bernie Sanders stated this explicitly to Kennedy at his confirmation hearing, and Kennedy declined to accept it.

The Murdoch Children's Research Institute (MCRI) documented the concrete harm caused by Kennedy's activism: his organisation was linked to disinformation campaigns about the measles vaccine in Samoa that led to the collapse of immunisation rates and a 2019 epidemic that killed 83 people, the majority of them children under the age of five. The Lancet published a commentary in December 2024 warning of the 'public health dangers' posed by Kennedy's appointment as Secretary of Health. The global number of measles cases rose by more than 20% in the year he took office.

The most dramatic consequence came in November 2025, when Kennedy personally ordered the CDC to change its longstanding position that vaccines do not cause autism. The CDC website was updated to state that this claim 'lacks a basis in evidence.' Reuters, the New York Times, and the WHO all condemned the change as misinformation. At a press conference, Kennedy said that 'the entire story about vaccine safety testing is simply a lie' - a denial of a scientific consensus built on research involving tens of millions of children.

Common claims

• Vaccines cause autism.False - not one of the dozens of large-scale studies has found a causal link
• Kennedy ordered the CDC to change its position on autism and vaccines.Supported - confirmed by Reuters and the New York Times
• Kennedy's anti-vaccine activism contributed to measles outbreaks.Supported - documented by MCRI research on the 2019 Samoa epidemic

Evidence hierarchy

All sources

• US CDC adopts Kennedy's anti-vaccine views on recast websiteReuters · 2025
• Kennedy Says He Told CDC to Change Website's Language on Autism and VaccinesNew York Times · 2025
• The dangers of vaccine misinformation: Robert F Kennedy JrMCRI · 2023
• The perils of RFK Junior's anti-vaccine leadership for public healthThe Lancet · 2024
• How RFK Jr is systematically undermining vaccines around the worldUniversity of Manchester · 2025
• RFK Jr.'s history of medical misinformation raises concerns over HHS nominationBrookings Institution · 2025

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