At a federal autism advisory committee meeting, members double down on long-debunked theories

Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified to lawmakers that his 2019 visit to Samoa before a deadly measles outbreak had 'nothing to do with vaccines.' However, newly obtained documents show he wrote to the Samoan prime minister requesting to study the country's measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines, using the words 'vaccine' or 'vaccination' eight times. Critics attribute the outbreak, which killed 83 people mostly under 5, to Kennedy's anti-vaccine advocacy.

At the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) meeting, members explicitly named vaccines as a cause of autism, despite this being repeatedly debunked. Kennedy had reshaped the committee in January with appointees who share his views, so no one challenged the statements. The committee voted to approve a plan that abandons the genetics-first approach to autism research in favor of funding studies on diet, inflammation, metabolic stress, and folate (leucovorin), areas with significantly less scientific evidence. The plan and rollout faced backlash, and the meeting ended with a tense exchange between the committee chair and an autistic federal employee.