Condemn RFK’s Attacks on Vaccines, Research, and the Autism Community

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s tenure as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been rife with blatant attacks on science and public health. Under his so-called leadership, biomedical research through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has stalled, and further budget reductions and terminations of important studies, including the largest NIH study focused on women’s health, threaten to derail scientific progress for decades. Entire agencies within HHS have been haphazardly gutted or are slated to be eliminated, hindering our nation’s ability to fight infectious disease, treat substance use disorders, and address other emerging public health threats.

Besides dismantling of our nation’s public health and biomedical research infrastructure, Kennedy has also spread lies about vaccines and defunded childhood vaccination programs as a preventable and deadly measles outbreak continues to rage. He has also made frankly despicable statements about autism spectrum disorder, claiming it is a preventable disease and suggesting that people with autism (or, by extension, any level of disability) cannot lead meaningful lives. And while Kennedy’s HHS denies that they will combine private and public health data to create an autism “registry”, Kennedy is pushing forward with his own “massive testing and research effort” that will surely be used to validate his own false narrative.

Kennedy is a threat to scientific integrity, public health, and the lives of those served by HHS research and programs. Congress must hold him accountable for his careless statements and actions that are endangering the health and safety of every American.