Vaccines STILL don't cause autism, but RFK Jr's anti-vaccine rhetoric is alive and profitable.
This claim was fabricated by Andrew Wakefield for profit. RFK Jr. has been exploiting the dangerous lie for 25 years.
Are we regressing as a species? Hard to say, but considering that Trump is suggesting that his administration will waste taxpayer dollars to “explore” long debunked anti-science claims, it is possible.
I honestly wish I could write about really cool and innovative scientific developments that I am involved with in my real job, but alas, here we are, playing the never-ending game of conspiracy theory whack-a-mole.
Part of this comes down to the fact that only 28% of Americans have civic science literacy, meaning they cannot appropriately understand scientific information and make informed decisions about it. And that goes for our politicians and government officials too.
Anyway, if you missed it, this is the story. Trump is going to give the man who has directly profited off promoting lies about vaccines the keys to the castle. He says somebody has to find out? Well, lucky for humanity, scientists have already found out.
There is NO link between vaccines and autism.
RFK Jr. has been profiting off of this lie for over 25 years, and his elevation within the US Government will not only cause further harm to public health, it will allow him to profit even more.
The purported link between vaccines and autism was entirely fabricated by British gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield so he could make a lot of money.
He published entirely falsified “data” in the Lancet in 1998. Wakefield stood to make a lot of money by undermining the approved MMR vaccines:
A payout from personal injury lawyers who had recruited parents to sue MMR vaccine manufacturers. Wakefield was paid €435,000 (the equivalent of over $527,000 USD) to help give credibility to the lawsuit.
He was developing his own vaccine that he would profit from. His vaccine would have competed against the MMR vaccine so he needed to create distrust in the currently approved MMR vaccine.
He also planned to develop a fake test-kit for consumers to diagnose autism-related enterocolitis (estimated at $44 million/year revenue).
The paper was finally retracted in 2010, but that was 12 years after its publication.
The delay in retraction, even though copious data were presented refuting his claims and his coauthors spoke out against it, caused irreparable harm.
Andrew Wakefield lost his medical license and fled to the US, where he continues his anti-vaccine campaigns to this day. Now he aligns with the unregulated wellness industry, a $5.6 trillion dollar market that exploits medical conspiracism.
If you want this in video format, watch this clip here:
Read more on the data related to vaccines and autism in this piece I wrote:
Copious data show there is no link to vaccines and autism, and that is NOT for lack of trying.
Trump claims that “somebody has to find out” about autism and vaccines. Perhaps he has missed the decades of data, including:
1999 UK Epidemiological Study: An epidemiological analysis of 498 children with autism or autism-like disorder before and after the introduction of the MMR vaccine. Autism prevalence was the same between vaccinated and unvaccinated populations. Age of diagnosis did not differ between groups and autism symptom onset and timing of MMR vaccine had absolutely no relationship.
2002 Denmark Population-Level Cohort Study: This retrospective cohort study included 537,303 children representing 2,129,864 person-years of study and spanned 1991 and 1998, where autism outcomes were compared among groups. The risk of autism was the same between vaccinated and unvaccinated children. There was no association between age at the time of vaccination, the time since vaccination, or the date of vaccination and the development of autism.
2019 Denmark Population-Level Cohort Study: ANOTHER large-scale population-wide cohort study involving 657,461 children born between 1999 and 2010 and were followed from 2000 and 2013. Of the entire cohort, about 1% of the children were diagnosed with autism at 6-7 years of age. There was NO link between MMR vaccination status and autism. There was a genetic link to autism, though.
2014 Systematic Review: A comprehensive systematic review of 338 studies, inclusive of millions of subjects. The review revealed no increased risk of autism following the MMR vaccine.
RFK Jr. has been profiting off this lie for 25 years.
Even though almost immediately following Wakefield’s publication, studies upon studies were released refuting the claims, the horse was out of the barn.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his anti-science organization Children’s Health Defense exploited vulnerability of parents and scared them out of vaccinating their children. He has leveraged fears about vaccines to make millions of dollars and has directly contributed to declining vaccine rates globally. This has resulted in outbreaks of preventable illnesses, like the 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa in 2019 that killed dozens, primarily children under 5. Proportionally, this outbreak was like an outbreak in the US killing thousands.
(read more below)
Andrew Wakefield and his paper were the foundation for the ongoing erosion of confidence in vaccines, contributing to ongoing vaccine hesitancy and misinformation. A lot of opportunists have leveraged this to undermine scientific progress and make money off of it, including RFK Jr.
That’s right, RFK Jr. is one of the top propagators (and profiteers) of anti-vaccine disinformation.
He is one of the Disinformation Dozen as well as a Pandemic Profiteer. CHD made over $23 MILLION dollars in 2022 alone from anti-vaccine disinformation.
How does RFK Jr. make money from anti-science activism?
Often when I address the claims RFK Jr. has promoted for decades, people are confused how he gets rich from this. Let’s walk through it.
Donations, advertisements, and fundraising through his anti-science organization Children’s Health Defense. His recruitment of donors has led to skyrocketing profits of his anti-science organization. CHD's revenue grew from $1.1 million in 2018 to $23.5 million in 2022.
His personal salary at CHD has grown from $131,000 in 2017 to over $500,000 in 2021. In 2023, he was making $20,000 a WEEK as chairman of the organization.
His book sales. He wrote "The Real Anthony Fauci," which promotes falsehoods about vaccines, basic science, and public health officials. The book was published in 2021, when RFK Jr. was undermining the COVID-19 pandemic, and is reported to have sold nearly a million copies. Assuming a standard royalty rate of 15%, the book likely generated $20 million in revenue (so far) with $3 million going directly to RFK Jr.
Legal actions and donations funding them. Remember, RFK Jr. is a lawyer. His career has been centered around tort civil lawsuits targeting “evil companies” under the guise of caring about people’s health. He makes a lot of money both directly as legal representation AND through fundraising efforts. Calls to action on CHD’s website to “support the cause” brings in large donors and individuals who have been misled by his lies.
Anti-science partners. The wellness industry and anti-vaccine network are one and the same. There is a LOT of money behind these groups and the people who promote these lies. For example, RFK Jr. works closely with other wealthy anti-vaccine activists like Del Bigtree (who is now one of his advisors). Collectively, this amplifies the spread of disinformation campaigns, brings in more advertising revenue, and also involves speaking fees at various conventions and events.
Let’s not forget his political donors. During his 2024 presidential campaign, he attracted a LOT of anti-science donors, including Mark Gorton who co-chaired a super PAC for RFK Jr.
Selling anti-science wellness products. If you read some of my other pieces on RFK Jr., you’ll remember he started his anti-science crusade scaring people about “chemicals” in order to elicit lawsuits. Well, of course he capitalized on that too. When he worked for Riverkeeper, he sold bottled water, called “Keeper Water” - which, ironically, had twice the amount of fluoride in it than public water supplies that he is now demonizing.
He’s also got his wife, Cheryl Hines, in on the grift. She’s now selling “MAHA” candles through her brand, Hines and Young. But it isn’t just the MAHA candles: Cheryl’s company supports Waterkeeper Alliance, which, spoiler: is an organization founded by RFK Jr. Proceeds from her beauty company sales go directly to them.
For context: Waterkeeper Alliance was born from Riverkeeper, the NGO RFK Jr started his legal career with. Riverkeeper has lobbied heavily against modern energy technologies like hydroelectric power and nuclear power, both viewed by scientific experts as being sustainable and environmentally-friendly methods of energy generation. This is all promoted under the guise of being a “champion of the environment” which is not supported by their actions. Indeed, Waterkeeper has many of the same tactics.
RFK Jr. is an opportunist who profits by spreading disinformation and fear.
His amplification by the incoming Trump administration will allow him to propagate anti-science falsehoods, including the long-debunked myth related to vaccines and autism, all while he continues to make money through his organizational ties and financial conflicts of interests.
RFK Jr. has kept this lie alive for over 25 years for his own personal benefit.
The US declared measles eliminated 24 years ago, yet disinformation spread by RFK Jr. has jeopardized this status. Measles cases are appearing across the US and other countries, as well as increased rates of many other vaccine-preventable diseases.
Measles: Is it Immune or Human Amnesia?
We cannot let his greed and medical conspiracism interfere with public health progress more than it already has. We all have parts to play and that includes correcting demonstrably false claims that put all of us in harms’ way.
RFK Jr. and his anti-science actions are a threat to society.
We all must join in the fight for science.
Thank you for supporting evidence-based science communication. With outbreaks of preventable diseases, refusal of evidence-based medical interventions, propagation of pseudoscience by prominent public “personalities”, it’s needed now more than ever.
Stay skeptical,
Andrea
“ImmunoLogic” is written by Dr. Andrea Love, PhD - immunologist and microbiologist. She works full-time in life sciences biotech and has had a lifelong passion for closing the science literacy gap and combating pseudoscience and health misinformation as far back as her childhood. This newsletter and her science communication on her social media pages are born from that passion. Follow on Instagram, Threads, Twitter, and Facebook, or support the newsletter by subscribing below:
Two words: Ugh!!!
Most recently, over 75 Nobel laureates have spoken up, urging the senate to reject this nomination. If he still prevails, it is up to all of us - scientists and science-savvy consumers - to continue to disseminate accurate information to people who genuinely believe in science and want to stay safe. For those who don’t…I guess they’re on their own, vulnerable to a charlatan.