Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has made many puzzling statements about health policy over the years (BBC Verify Team, 2024). Among his infamous and oft-repeated claims is that autism is closely linked to childhood vaccinations (BBC Verify Team, 2024). However, all good scientists know that this claim is patently false. Despite Kennedy’s unremitting insistence to the contrary, years of rigorous research have yielded widespread consensus in the scientific community that autism is not caused by vaccines (Demicheli et al., 2012; DeStefano, 2002; DeStefano & Shimabukuro, 2019; Hviid et al., 2019; Mohammed et al., 2022; L. E. Taylor et al., 2014). Yet Kennedy remains undeterred. With his powerful new government appointment, RFK's stance is proving extremely costly: He recently decreed that he would spend taxpayer money to reinvestigate and relitigate settled science on the "environmental" (a.k.a. "vaccine") causes of autism (Stein & Wroth, 2025). While the government cuts scientific funding almost everywhere else (Wadman, 2025), Kennedy is wasting precious time and resources on discredited fringe theories.

To add insult to injury, this week, RFK spoke about autism in ways that are not only inaccurate and stigmatizing but also demeaning and paternalistic. As he put it:

Autism destroys families, and more importantly, it destroys our greatest resource, which is our children. These are........

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