The recurring claim that vaccines cause autism

Aug 2026 Trump's childhood-vaccine order and the federal autism committee

On August 10, 2026, Trump signed Executive Order 14420. It recommends shots against 11 diseases for all children and says MMR should be given as three single-disease shots "once such products are domestically available." The order's text never mentions autism, but in Oval Office remarks Trump tied it to autism, saying "there's a reason for such epidemic rates of autism." CBS noted that he cited no evidence, and pointed to a 2019 Danish study of 657,461 children and a 2015 study of 95,727 US children that found no link between MMR and autism. On August 17, KFF Health News reported that Kennedy's autism research effort had "blown past a deadline to turn up definitive answers," without producing evidence linking vaccines to autism. On August 27, IACC members pointed to vaccines as a possible cause of autism, and no committee member challenged statements by members of the public who blamed vaccines, STAT reported; Kennedy had restocked the committee in January.

whitehouse.gov statement
the combined measles, mumps, rubella (MMR) vaccine should be administered in three separate single-disease shots once such products are domestically available
cbsnews.com article
The order didn't mention autism, but the president did — repeatedly.
statnews.com article
committee members explicitly pointed to vaccines as a potential cause of autism
c-span.org video Watch
many, many times what it used to be years ago

Sources: cbsnews.com reliable · ABC News reliable · kffhealthnews.org needs a second source · statnews.com needs a second source

Rerun #11

Dec 2025 – Jan 2026 Hepatitis B vote and a smaller childhood schedule

On Dec 5, 2025, ACIP voted 8–3 to drop the universal hepatitis B birth dose. Instead, it recommended "individual-based decision-making" for babies whose mothers test negative, with any first dose given no earlier than two months (HHS; STAT). STAT reported that "no fresh safety concerns or effectiveness issues" led to the review. It also noted that Kennedy founded the anti-vaccine group Children's Health Defense. On Jan 5, 2026, the CDC announced a revised childhood schedule that splits vaccines into three groups: for all children, for high-risk groups, and by shared decision. ABC reported that this followed a memo Trump signed in early December directing Kennedy to examine how other countries structure their schedules.

statnews.com article
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices voted 8-3 to recommend the change, following more than a day of contentious discussion.
hhs.gov statement
today voted 8 to 3 to recommend individual-based decision-making for parents deciding whether to give the hepatitis B vaccine, including the birth dose,
ABC News article
President Trump directed us to examine how other developed nations protect their children and to take action if they are doing better

Sources: statnews.com needs a second source · hhs.gov needs a second source · ABC News reliable

Rerun #10

Nov 2025 CDC "Autism and Vaccines" page changed

On Nov. 19, 2025, the CDC changed its "Autism and Vaccines" page. It now says the claim "vaccines do not cause autism" is "not an evidence-based claim," and that "studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities" (FactCheck.org; STAT). HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told The New York Times he personally ordered the change. HHS communications director Andrew Nixon defended it, saying "studies to date have not definitively ruled out potential associations" (CBS). The American Academy of Pediatrics' president said more than 40 high-quality studies in seven countries, involving over 5.6 million people, found no link. CBS notes that the 1998 study behind the MMR theory was found to be fraudulent and was retracted. A "Vaccines do not cause Autism" subheading stayed up with an asterisk. A footnote said it remained because of an agreement with the chair of the Senate health (HELP) committee; Sen. Bill Cassidy had said in February that Kennedy pledged not to remove that language (AP via PBS; FactCheck.org).

cdc.gov statement
The claim "vaccines do not cause autism" is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.
statnews.com article
The updated page did not go through normal scientific clearance
cbsnews.com article
later said in an interview with The New York Times that he personally ordered the change.

Sources: statnews.com needs a second source · cbsnews.com reliable · Public Broadcasting Service reliable · factcheck.org reliable

Rerun #9

Sep 2025 White House autism press conference (Tylenol, MMR, hepatitis B)

At a September 22, 2025 White House press conference on autism, President Trump appeared alongside HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. He said "The MMR, I think, should be taken separately. This is based on what I feel," and that the hepatitis B vaccine should wait "till the baby is 12 years old" (Rev transcript). FactCheck.org reported that Trump made the split-MMR recommendation five times. It also reported that Kennedy said research on a vaccine-autism link "has been actively suppressed in the past," and that Trump wrongly said the Amish "don't take vaccines" and have "essentially no autism." FactCheck.org found no evidence that the combined vaccine is less safe and noted that separate shots aren't available in the US. It traced the idea to Andrew Wakefield's fraudulent, retracted 1998 paper and said the combined MMR shot came out in 1971. NBC News reported that Trump repeated the MMR and hepatitis B advice on Truth Social that Friday (September 26).

rev.com statement
The MMR, I think, should be taken separately. This is based on what I feel.
NBC News article
Trump also said Friday that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine should be broken up into three shots and not “mixed” — even though the shots have been combined since 1971 and aren’t made individually.
c-span.org video Watch
Taking Tylenol is not good.

Sources: factcheck.org reliable · PolitiFact reliable · NBC News reliable · cidrap.umn.edu needs a second source

Rerun #8

Apr 2025 CDC autism prevalence report and Kennedy's "epidemic" news conference

At an April 16, 2025 news conference on new CDC data, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called autism a "preventable disease" and said, "This is coming from an environmental toxin" (FactCheck.org). The CDC report found 1 in 31 eight-year-olds at its study sites had autism in 2022, up from 1 in 36 in 2020. The report linked the rise to better screening and awareness (PBS/PolitiFact). FactCheck.org described Kennedy as someone with a "history of pushing the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism." Zoe Gross of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network told PolitiFact that "a robust body of research" proves there is no link between vaccines and autism. She said she believed vaccines were the "environmental toxin" Kennedy was speculating about.

statnews.com article
"Autism destroys families," Kennedy said. "More importantly, it destroys our greatest resource, which is our children."
Public Broadcasting Service article
Genes do not cause epidemics. They can provide a vulnerability, but you need an environmental toxin.
factcheck.org article
Kennedy said these attempts at rigorous interpretation of the data amounted to an "ideology of epidemic denial."
c-span.org video Watch
destroys families but more importantly it destroys our greatest resource, which are our children.

Sources: statnews.com needs a second source · Public Broadcasting Service reliable · factcheck.org reliable

Rerun #7

Mar 2025 Texas measles outbreak and the David Geier report

On March 25, 2025, the Washington Post reported that, according to current and former federal health officials, HHS had hired David Geier to analyze possible links between vaccines and autism. Geier and his father had published papers claiming vaccines raise autism risk, and Maryland regulators disciplined him for practicing medicine without a license. The Post reported that HHS told the CDC in early March to do a vaccine-autism study. It also said "President Donald Trump and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have repeatedly linked vaccines to autism." According to the Post, the CDC handed NIH the underlying data from four 2000s studies, and none of those studies found a link. Neither did more than two dozen others, including a 2019 Danish study of half a million children on the MMR vaccine. STAT reported that vaccine experts reacted with "incredulity and dropped jaws." CIDRAP reported the Geier news alongside a measles outbreak in West Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma.

spokesman.com article
The Department of Health and Human Services has hired David Geier to conduct the analysis, according to the officials
statnews.com article
“It’s like hiring Andrew Wakefield,” said Dorit Reiss

Sources: statnews.com needs a second source · spokesman.com needs a second source · cidrap.umn.edu needs a second source

Rerun #6

Jan 2025 – Feb 2025 Confirmation hearings

At his Jan. 30, 2025 HELP committee hearing, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. would not say that vaccines do not cause autism. That happened even though committee chair Sen. Bill Cassidy and ranking member Sen. Bernie Sanders both pressed him on it (FactCheck.org; STAT). Kennedy said he would give that reassurance "if the data is there." When Cassidy showed him a 2014 review that found no link, Kennedy cited a Jan. 2025 paper by Anthony Mawson that claimed a link. FactCheck.org reported that biostatistician Jeffrey S. Morris said the paper had "so many severe methodological issues" that it should not have passed legitimate peer review. Sen. Ed Markey also questioned Kennedy about his 2019 trip to Samoa, which came months before a measles outbreak that killed 83 people. Kennedy said, "My purpose in going down there had nothing to do with vaccines" (CBS News). On Feb. 4, Cassidy joined the other Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee in voting to advance the nomination. He said Kennedy had promised, among other things, that the CDC would not remove website statements that vaccines do not cause autism (BioPharma Dive).

factcheck.org article
Will you reassure mothers unequivocally and without qualification, that the measles and hepatitis B vaccines do not cause autism?
cbsnews.com article
My purpose in going down there had nothing to do with vaccines
biopharmadive.com article
would not remove statements on its website explaining that vaccines do not cause autism
c-span.org video Watch

Sources: factcheck.org reliable · cbsnews.com reliable · biopharmadive.com needs a second source · statnews.com needs a second source

Rerun #5

Nov 2024 – Dec 2024 Kennedy picked for HHS; Trump raises autism in interviews

On Nov. 14, 2024, Trump announced in a post on X that he would nominate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as HHS secretary. CBS News reported that Kennedy "has a long record of criticizing vaccines, including spreading misleading claims about their safety." It also reported that he has said autism and other conditions have worsened because of federal inaction.

In his TIME Person of the Year interview, published Dec. 12, 2024, Trump was asked whether he would approve of ending childhood vaccination programs. He said "there's something causing it" about the autism rate, and that his administration would do "very serious testing." TIME noted that he "did not explicitly say in the interview that vaccines cause autism." TIME also reported that the claim traces to Andrew Wakefield's 1998 Lancet study. That study was retracted in 2010, and multiple later studies found no evidence of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism.

cbsnews.com article
I am thrilled to announce Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Time article
If you look at things that are happening, there's something causing it.

Sources: cbsnews.com reliable · Time reliable

Rerun #4

Jun 2023 Kennedy on Rogan and the Hotez debate challenge

CNN's April 19, 2023 article said Kennedy would launch his bid for the 2024 Democratic nomination "on Wednesday in Boston." It described him as having "promoted discredited claims linking vaccines and autism." On Rogan's podcast on June 15, 2023, Kennedy claimed a CDC data analysis showed a greatly raised autism risk for babies given the hepatitis B vaccine; FactCheck.org said the figure came from a SafeMinds presentation. He also said he had never met anyone "your age" with "full-blown autism." FactCheck.org called these claims misleading and said "there's no evidence that vaccines are a cause." It also noted that the 1998 Lancet paper claiming an MMR–autism link was retracted. Rogan then offered $100,000 to charity if Hotez would debate Kennedy, and Elon Musk and Bill Ackman joined in. Hotez is the author of the 2018 book "Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel's Autism" (CNN). Rogan's tweet was viewed more than 50 million times (CNN, Post).

The Washington Post article
Peter, if you claim what RFKjr is saying is “misinformation” I am offering you $100,000.00 to the charity of your choice if you’re willing to debate him on my show with no time limit.
50,000,000 views as of 2026-10-23
CNN article
I just was stalked in front of my home by a couple of antivaxers taunting me to debate RFKJr.
factcheck.org article
I bet that you’ve never met anybody with full-blown autism your age.

Sources: CNN reliable · The Washington Post reliable · Fox News needs a second source · factcheck.org reliable · CNN reliable

Rerun #3

Feb 2019 – Apr 2019 Measles outbreaks, hearings and a new Danish study

On March 4, 2019, a study in the Annals of Internal Medicine of 657,461 Danish children born 1999–2010 found no link between the MMR vaccine and autism. One of its authors, Anders Hviid, told STAT the team redid the work because "the idea that vaccines cause autism is still going around." The next day, at a Senate HELP Committee hearing on vaccines and preventable outbreaks, 18-year-old Ethan Lindenberger testified that his mother "believes vaccines cause autism." On April 26, with US measles cases at their highest since 1994, Trump said "They have to get the shots." STAT noted that before he became president, he had several times alleged a link between the number of vaccines given in early infancy and autism.

statnews.com article
involving 657,461 Danish children born between 1999 and 2010
Public Broadcasting Service article
My mother would turn to anti-vaccine groups online and on social media looking for her evidence and defense
statnews.com article
They have to get the shots. The vaccinations are so important,
c-span.org video Watch

Sources: statnews.com needs a second source · statnews.com needs a second source · Public Broadcasting Service reliable · help.senate.gov needs a second source

Rerun #2

Jan 2017 Talk of a vaccine-safety commission

On January 10, 2017, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. met President-elect Trump at Trump Tower. Afterwards he told reporters Trump had asked him to chair a commission on "vaccine safety and scientific integrity," and that he had agreed. The AP (via PBS) wrote that Kennedy "has long argued that vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal may cause autism." Later that day, Trump spokeswoman Hope Hicks said Trump was "exploring the possibility of forming a commission on Autism" and that "no decisions have been made at this time." Coverage linked the meeting to Trump's own earlier statements tying vaccines to autism, including a 2014 tweet and a September 2015 debate answer. It also noted that scientists have found no such link. In August 2017, STAT reported that the commission plan "appears stalled." Kennedy told STAT he had had "no discussions specifically about the vaccine safety commission, probably since February."

Public Broadcasting Service article
President-elect Trump has some doubts about the current vaccine policies and he has questions about it,
NPR article
The President-elect is exploring the possibility of forming a commission on Autism, which affects so many families; however no decisions have been made at this time.
Snopes article
We are deeply concerned that creating a new commission on vaccine safety would cause unnecessary confusion and adversely impact parental decision-making and immunization practices.
c-span.org video Watch
President-elect Trump has some doubts about the current vaccine policies…

Sources: Public Broadcasting Service reliable · NPR reliable · CNN reliable · statnews.com needs a second source

Rerun #1

Mar 2016 The "Vaxxed" film is pulled from the Tribeca Film Festival

Tribeca planned to screen "Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe," a film directed and co-written by Andrew Wakefield. CBS News reported that the festival's own description said the film examines the "long-debated link between autism and vaccines." Wakefield wrote a 1998 Lancet study suggesting the MMR vaccine could cause autism. The Lancet retracted it 12 years later, and Britain's General Medical Council separately revoked his medical license over ethical violations and undisclosed conflicts of interest (STAT). De Niro, a Tribeca co-founder with a son with autism, defended the screening on March 25 and pulled the film on March 26 after what STAT called "an intense backlash over just 24 hours." The AAP said, "Claims that vaccines are linked to autism have been disproven by a robust body of medical literature" (CBS/AP).

cbsnews.com article
I am not personally endorsing the film, nor am I anti-vaccination; I am only providing the opportunity for a conversation around the issue.
statnews.com article
we do not believe it contributes to or furthers the discussion I had hoped for.
cbsnews.com article
We have just witnessed yet another example of the power of corporate interests censoring free speech, art and truth

Sources: statnews.com needs a second source · cbsnews.com reliable · cbsnews.com reliable