What happened: Some X and Telegram users, citing comments by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., are falsely claiming that studies debunking the link between vaccines and autism are not comprehensive because they do not compare outcomes in vaccinated versus unvaccinated children.
A closer look: The false claim is based on remarks made by Kennedy in an April 10, 2025, interview on Fox News’ “The Story With Martha MacCallum.”
MacCallum asked Kennedy: “There was a thought that vaccines may be related to this [autism], then they did several studies that said there was no connection between vaccines and autism. So, what are you seeing in this data that you’re looking at or is it all going to be brand new?”
Kennedy responded: “The biggest weakness of those studies was they never studied vaccinated versus unvaccinated, which is the only way you can really make that determination.”
Kennedy’s claim was soon cited in articles on websites that NewsGuard has found to have repeatedly published false or egregiously misleading content, including TheBurningPlatform.com (Trust Score: 7.5/100) and ChildrensHealthDefense.org (Trust Score: 17.5/100), the site of an anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy.
The claim then spread widely on social media platforms beginning with an April 13 X post by Lauren Lee (@sheislaurenlee), who identifies herself as a “writer & political commentator.” Lee’s post stated, “BREAKING: RFK Jr. Exposes a MAJOR Flaw in the Autism...
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