Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has reshaped a key federal autism advisory board, appointing members who have echoed his controversial views, including promoting debunked claims linking vaccines to autism.
At least eight of the 21 picks have been involved with anti-vaccine organizations or questioned vaccine safety.
“It undermines decades of progress toward evidence-based policy,” said Alison Singer, president of the Autism Science Foundation.
Singer, who is not a member of the panel but has previously served on it, said the advisory group has historically reflected a wide range of perspectives on autism but has now been effectively “hijacked” by individuals advancing positions inconsistent with established scientific research.
The Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment, but in a news release announcing the panel said the “appointments reflect the commitment of Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to support breakthrough innovations in autism research, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention by bringing the nation’s understanding of and policies concerning autism into alignment with gold-standard science.”
Established in 2000, the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee is a federal advisory body that develops strategic plans for autism research and services, coordinates collaboration among autism groups, people with autism and their families, scientists, and federal agencies, and reports annually to Congress.
Among the members named in a Wednesday announcement is John Gilmore, who has said his son with autism was “vaccine injured.” The organization he leads, the Autism Action Network, promotes vaccine mandate exemptions by claiming vaccines cause injuries.
Gilmore said in an interview that he would like to see more research into the rising prevalence of autism and potential environmental factors such as vaccines, rather than a continued emphasis from the panel on genetics, which has received much of the research funding in recent years. While he acknowledged existing research finding no link between autism and vaccines or their ingredients, he said he does not view that body of work as comprehensive.
“There’s plenty of room for more analysis to be done there,” he said.
Gilmore said his son, who is nonverbal and requires round-the-clock care, will turn 26 on Friday, and expressed frustration with what he described as a lack of progress in developing supports or treatments that could help him. He characterized the panel’s current makeup as a “correction” from previous iterations, which he said hindered progress.
Another appointee, Sylvia Fogel, an instructor in psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, raised the possibility of a connection between autism and vaccines as recently as this month — a link that has been repeatedly debunked. In a YouTube interview on a health program, Fogel said she has worked with parents who are “afraid” that potentially “the adverse events that … some of them witnessed in connection with vaccination played a role in what their child is suffering from right now.”
“We don’t have the data to say that isn’t true,” said Fogel, who did not immediately provide a response to written questions Thursday morning.
Ginger Taylor, an anti-vaccine activist and mother of a child with autism, was also selected for the committee. She elaborated on her views on vaccines in a post on X on Wednesday, stating that “[s]ome many or most cases of autism involve vaccine causation to some degree.”
Taylor said she distinguishes between what she described as vaccine-related cases of autism and those that are not, and said she wants to eliminate what she calls a “manufactured conflict” that sometimes exists between people of those groups. Taylor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
i understand that you feel this way comma but i don’t see it this way at all. The source of someone’s “autism” is 100% irrelevant to the value of people with autism. Is factually accurate to say that there are some people with vaccine induced autism. The government has admitted…
— Ginger Taylor, MS (@CombatingAutism) January 28, 2026
A fourth new member, Walter Zahorodny, an associate professor of pediatrics at Rutgers University who has collaborated with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to track autism prevalence in New Jersey, appeared alongside Kennedy at a press event last year, where he agreed with Kennedy’s controversial characterization of the rise in autism diagnoses as an “epidemic.” Many other researchers attribute the increase to broader diagnostic criteria and greater awareness.
Zahorodny said in an interview that he would like to see the committee focus on the primary drivers for increasing autism prevalence and early detection of autism.
“I have yet to meet a teacher or special ed director who thinks higher prevalence is an artifact. It’s not like we are relabeling people because of a fad,” he said.
Colin Killick, executive director of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, said no nominees from major mainstream autism policy organizations were appointed to the committee, as they were in previous years. He said he is concerned that “fringe views” on the panel could fuel false narratives and increase stigma.
“I worry this going to be another group that will fearmonger,” Killick said.
Kennedy has said he is not anti-vaccine, but under his leadership prominent figures in the anti-vaccine movement have been working within the department on vaccine safety issues. In November, the CDC revised its websiteto contradict the long-settled scientific conclusion that vaccines do not cause autism. The change shocked career scientists and drew praise from anti-vaccine activists.
Before the change, the CDC webpage stated that studies have shown that there is “no link” between vaccines and developing autism, according to archived webpages. The current CDC page now states: “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.”
Lena H. Sun and Trisha Thadani contributed to this report.
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