RFK Jr. Wanted $5B Study to Look for Vaccines-Autism Link

A $5 billion hunt for a vaccine-autism link never got off the ground—but the idea is revealing about Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s push to change US vaccine policy, Reuters reports. Sixteen current and former officials said Kennedy has pressed for sweeping changes since joining the Trump administration, including a now-frozen move to drop vaccines for six of 17 childhood diseases from the federal schedule and holding internal talks about scrapping the schedule entirely. He also asked National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya to devote more than 10% of the agency's budget to probing a link between vaccines and autism, a theory that major studies have found baseless; he backed off after Bhattacharya objected.

Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic who agreed to dial back his public rhetoric under White House pressure, has instead worked behind the scenes with allies such as adviser Stefanie Spear and outside attorney Aaron Siri to question vaccine safety, narrow access to COVID shots, and wind down mRNA research. HHS disputed parts of Reuters' account, including the proposal to drop all of the childhood immunization schedule, but wouldn't elaborate. A federal judge has halted Kennedy's revised schedule and ruled his remade vaccine advisory board unlawful, even as President Trump publicly cheers his push to cut US immunization recommendations and "seek out answers" on autism. Public health groups said the result is more confusion—and more risk. Trump's nominee to run the CDC testified in her confirmation hearing Wednesday that she'd "follow the science" but otherwise dodged on whether she'd follow Kennedy's positions on such issues.