“War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength” (George Orwell, 1984)
According to the CDC website, the “CDC serves the American public—individuals, families, and communities—who rely on accurate data, health guidance, and preventive measures.” Unfortunately, accurate, evidence-based information dispelling the link between autism and vaccines has been removed from the CDC website, per the direct orders of the nation’s leading anti-vaxxer, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. What is now prominent on the CDC website is this statement: “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.” Like Big Brother in George Orwell’s dystopian novel 1984, who constantly spewed propagandistic platitudes, RFK, Jr. engages in equally false claims about vaccines and autism.
As anyone with any serious interest in autism knows full well, this CDC statement is in direct contravention of years of evidence-based, replicated data from around the world. Moreover, Kennedy is condemning those who want to understand the rise in autism and autism spectrum disorders to the wilderness of disproven, false, and dead-end ideas rather than exploring other possible causes. Orwellification, which is when false propaganda is promulgated for political ends, is not simply limited to vaccine information, but it is most easily seen in the bogus ideological claptrap that has fueled Kennedy’s long, miserable, and misinformed journey in public health.
Like the Brotherhood and the character Emmanuel Goldstein in 1984, public health has become the “enemy of the people.” Despite years of success and many significant victories, the credibility of public health was greatly undermined during COVID. The nation’s leadership sullied the reputation of what had long been globally esteemed stalwarts for health promotion and disease prevention: the CDC, the NIH, the FDA, and the entire HHS. Now, however, is a good time to remind ourselves of the many accomplishments of public health that have long gone unsung but have greatly benefited society without the glory and fanfare of traditional medical accomplishments.
Top among those accomplishments is vaccination. As a septuagenarian, the current head of HHS likely received several vaccines, including polio and smallpox. Despite being a beneficiary of these safe and effective preventive measures and giving them, per his own claims, to his own kids, he now seeks to eliminate and disparage an established measure to reduce disease burden not just for individuals but for entire populations.
The current intentional disavowal of established safety and efficacy is detrimental far beyond the potential loss of herd immunity and, with it, the increase of communicable disease that will impact the morbidity and mortality for generations to come. This spread of disinformation is directly harmful to the autism community. To vilify neurodiversity in the way that Kennedy has done and continues to do—seeing all autistic people as totally dependent residents of institutions–is unacceptable and epitomizes ableist discrimination at its worst. Statements such as those of the current administration suggest that autism is far worse than the devastation and harm that might be caused by any communicable disease.
CDC’s latest attempt to rehash debunked falsehoods has been met with widespread criticism and even outrage. Leading autistic scholar and advocate Ari Ne’eman, PhD, underscores how this latest round of propaganda by the administration greatly undermines public trust: “It gives people justifiable cause to be suspicious about anything that comes out from this administration regarding the science of autism…This reinforces this sense that RFK Jr.’s political judgments are being used in place of the scientific process.” In addition to individual critiques, a mounting number of healthcare organizations and advocacy groups (including the NMA, SMFM, ASTHO, Autism Speaks, and the AOA) have decried this blatant disregard of the truth about autism and vaccines.
Getting RFK, Jr. to change his mind about both autism and vaccination is impossible. For years, he has denied the science, stoked fear and panic over autism, and surrounded himself with unqualified fellow travelers or supplicant fringe scientists who tell him what he wants to hear. Federal information about autism cannot be trusted now. Websites that once were the gold standard are now replaced with pyrite. Other voices from academia, medicine, patient groups, industry, professional societies, and teachers must now fill the void before those with autism are disenfranchised and those who wish to help them are left with no truth but Orwellian drivel.
Kayhan Parsi, JD, PhD, HEC-C and Nanette Elster, JD, MPH are both Professors of Bioethics & Health Policy at the Neiswanger Institute for Bioethics, Loyola University Chicago.
Arthur Caplan, PhD, is the Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor of Bioethics at the Division of Medical Ethics, NYU Grossman School of Medicine.
The authors’ views are their own and do not represent any institutions they are affiliated with.