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RFK Jr. Says He Ordered CDC Language Change on Vaccines, Autism: ‘Not Supported by Science’
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. confirmed in an interview published Friday that he personally commanded the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Prevention to slap a notice on its website reversing the agency’s longstanding position that childhood vaccines do not cause autism.
“The whole thing about ‘vaccines have been tested and there’s been this determination made’ is just a lie,” Kennedy, 71, told the New York Times. “The phrase ‘Vaccines do not cause autism’ is not supported by science.”
Beginning this week, the CDC’s “Vaccines and Autism” webpage contains three admonitions: “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,” followed by “Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities,” and “HHS has launched a comprehensive assessment of the causes of autism, including investigations on plausible biologic mechanisms and potential causal links.”
Federal Judges Weigh Reviving Court Cases Linking Tylenol to Autism
A federal appeals court is deciding whether to revive more than 500 lawsuits filed by parents who claimed their children’s autism or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) was caused by prenatal exposure to Tylenol. The lawsuits were dismissed in December 2023 by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote after finding that the plaintiffs’ scientific experts did not provide credible evidence linking use of Tylenol, or its active ingredient acetaminophen, to autism or ADHD.
Cote wrote in her ruling that “the unstructured approach adopted by the plaintiffs’ experts permitted cherry-picking, allowed a results-driven analysis, and obscured the complexities, inconsistencies, and weaknesses in the underlying data.”
However, in a hearing this week, two judges of a three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan suggested some of the experts’ testimony may have been admissible and that the lawsuits were prematurely dismissed.
NJ High Court Rules Shaken Baby Syndrome Testimony Unreliable and Inadmissible in Child Abuse Cases
New Jersey’s highest court ruled Thursday that expert testimony about shaken baby syndrome is scientifically unreliable and inadmissible in two upcoming trials, a decision that comes as the long-held medical diagnoses have come under increased scrutiny.
The New Jersey Supreme Court determined that a diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome, which is also known as abusive head trauma, is not generally accepted within the “biomechanical community” and is therefore not “sufficiently reliable” for admission at the trials. The 6-1 ruling deals with the trials of two men facing charges in separate cases, where the young victims showed symptoms that have come to be associated with shaken baby syndrome.
The justices, using an abbreviation for the syndrome, concluded in their lengthy decision that “there was no test supporting a finding that humans can produce the physical force necessary to cause the symptoms associated with SBS/AHT in a child.”
HHS Floats New CDC Programs, Including Hepatitis B Screening
The Health and Human Services Department is proposing new initiatives for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, including a program to increase hepatitis B screening for pregnant women, as part of a broader push to restructure the agency, according to an internal document viewed by Bloomberg News.
Leading five of the 16 initiatives is Sam Beyda — a carryover from the Department of Government Efficiency — who was recently named deputy chief of staff at the CDC, according to people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak on the subject.
Trump Admin Backs off Idea to Force SNAP Users to Reapply
The Trump administration’s promised overhaul of the nation’s largest food aid program will rely on existing policies rather than forcing people to reapply for benefits, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss the plans.
Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said last week that millions of Americans would have to reapply for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program as part of an effort to root out alleged fraud, but U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is now clarifying that it will use current verification processes. State and local SNAP administrators will continue to recertify participants’ work history, income and other personal information as often as every six months to ensure they’re eligible for benefits.
“Rates of fraud were only previously assumed, and President [Donald] Trump is doing something about it. Using standard recertification processes for households is a part of that work,” a USDA spokesperson said in a statement. “As well as ongoing analysis of State data, further regulatory work, and improved collaboration with States.”
MAHA Idealism Meets Political Reality as RFK Jr. Attempts to Wrangle a Growing Movement
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spent a recent Wednesday showered in praise from the vice president and health technology CEOs at a glitzy “Make America Healthy Again” event in Washington, designed to celebrate the health secretary’s successes and the movement he has built. Yet online, a different narrative of his tenure was playing out as a small but vocal group of Kennedy’s supporters and former employees assailed top Trump administration advisers, claiming they were sabotaging him and redirecting MAHA away from its original goals.
“MAHA is not MAHA anymore,” Gray Delany, a former Department of Health and Human Services official ousted in August, said in a podcast interview that day. “I’m not there, but what I’ve heard of what’s happening today is not the MAHA that we signed up for.” The criticisms, which grew loud enough that the health secretary took to social media to defend his colleagues two days later, exposed the cracks that are beginning to form within his coalition as it amasses power and broadens in scope.
Several of the environmental advocates and vaccine skeptics who helped propel Kennedy into politics have become impatient with what they view as inadequate action on their priorities. They’re also wary that the Health Department appears willing to collaborate with pharmaceutical companies, tech firms and other big corporations whose motives they don’t trust. The fissures pose a threat to the cohesion of a movement that has given President Donald Trump an important ally and Republicans access to a new group of voters.
