Last week, Kennedy announced an entirely new lineup for the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC), a group that recommends what type of autism research the government should fund and provides guidance on needed services for the autism community. The group is typically composed of experts in the field of autism research, as well as policy experts and autistic people advocating for their community.
In a statement announcing the new panel, which does not include any previous members, Kennedy claimed they have appointed “the most qualified experts—leaders who have decades of experience studying, researching, and treating autism.” But health experts and autism advocates strongly disagree, and a review of the group’s new members shows that Kennedy has appointed members of the anti-vaccine community who claim that vaccines cause autism — despite no evidence to prove such a claim.
Those appointed last week included Daniel Rossignol, a doctor who was sued for alleged fraud after giving poor and dangerous treatment to a 7-year-old autistic boy. Tracy Slepcevic, an appointee whom Kennedy calls a “dear friend”, demonstrates a wide range of fake autism cures at his annual Autism Health Summit, including injecting animal stem cells into children. Another appointee, Toby Rogers, has claimed that “no thinking person gets vaccinated” and that vaccine manufacturers are “poisoning children.” Rogers is a fellow at the Brownstone Institute for Social and Economic Research and has also called vaccines “one of the greatest crimes in human history.” He has written articles for Children’s Health Defense (CHD), the anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy, that has linked autism to vaccines.
Other appointees are no different: John Gilmore founded the Autism Action Network and has said his autistic son is “vaccine injured.” Gilmore is also the founder of the New York chapter of Kennedy’s children’s health defense group. Ginger Taylor, former director of the Maine Coalition for Vaccine Choice, has publicly claimed that many cases of autism are “vaccine caused.” Elizabeth Mumper writes for Children’s Health Defense and is a senior fellow with the Independent Medical Alliance, a group formerly known as the Front Line Covid-19 Critical Care Alliance, which has promoted ivermectin as a treatment for Covid.
Mumper told WIRED that her decades of work as a pediatrician and in the field of autism qualified her to become a member of the IACC. He also denied being anti-vaccine and noted that he has received “thousands of vaccinations in his career.”
None of the other new IACC members contacted by WIRED responded to requests for comment.
A few years ago, this might have seemed like the all-star lineup of a conspiracy convention. Today, these appointments appear routine, and are the latest example of how Kennedy has tried to remake America’s public health administration.
According to public health experts and autism advocates, Kennedy’s decision will reduce resources for people with autism and their families, and will also embolden those promoting pseudoscientific treatments that could endanger the lives of autistic people.
“once again, [Kennedy] Proves that he’s one of the world’s most extreme and dangerous conspiracy theorists who loves to stack his committees with anti-science, anti-public health kooks,” Gavin Yammy, a professor of global health and public policy at Duke University, tells WIRED. “The research evidence is clear that vaccines do not cause autism.” According to Yammy, “It seems that RFK Jr.’s new committee is tasked with muddying the waters and casting doubt on the evidence.” Has gone. RFK Jr. has spent the last year doing everything possible to destroy public health and roll back vaccination, and this new committee is much the same.”
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