HHS’ Assault on Autistic People and Public Health: Year One

Over the last 12 months, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS or the Department) has made unprecedented changes to its priorities and operations, thereby reshaping the public health landscape. Both media coverage and public awareness of the administration’s actions have varied widely, limiting any one person’s ability to monitor these actions. In addition to these changes, the prevalence of misinformation promoted by the administration has created a crisis in public health. No topics better exemplify this phenomenon than vaccines and autism.

In contrast to prior administrations, HHS leadership has had an outsized focus on autism and vaccine policy in the past year, in large part due to key HHS figures’ belief in a causal link between the two. Nearly three decades of research support that vaccines do not cause autism. Vaccines remain a safe and effective tool to combat infectious disease.

This administration continues to challenge this scientific consensus, instead favoring the preexisting biases of HHS leadership. Changes in priorities to autism research and programs that serve autistic people further contribute to confusion.

The report addresses gaps in media coverage and public awareness of HHS actions on vaccines and autism in the first year of the Department under President Donald Trump and Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (RFK Jr.). The timeline in the report can serve as a central resource for policymakers, individuals with disabilities and their families, and the general public to learn more about key administration actions related to autism.