Kennedy Overhauls Federal Autism Panel with Vaccine Skeptics

New committee includes members who believe vaccines cause autism, despite lack of scientific evidence.

Jan. 29, 2026 at 7:31pm

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Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has overhauled the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, a panel that advises the federal government on autism research and services priorities. The new 21-member public panel includes many activists who have argued that vaccines cause autism, despite decades of research failing to establish such a link. The panel will now advise on how to allocate $2 billion in federal autism funding over the next five years.

Why it matters

The overhaul of the autism advisory panel raises concerns that it will shift the focus away from evidence-based research and services toward a fringe theory about vaccines causing autism that has been thoroughly disproven. This could undermine progress in supporting the autism community and divert critical funding.

The details

The new panel includes a former employee of a super PAC that supported Kennedy's presidential campaign, a doctor who has been sued over dangerous heavy metal treatments for a child with autism, a political economist who has testified against vaccines, and parents who have spoken publicly about their belief that vaccines caused their children's autism. The panel will be chaired by Dr. Sylvia Fogel, a psychiatrist and mother of a teenager with profound autism, who expressed a more moderate stance on vaccines than some of her new colleagues.

  • The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee was established in 2000.
  • The new 21-member public panel was selected by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in January 2026.

The players

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Health Secretary who overhauled the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, installing members who believe vaccines cause autism.

Sylvia Fogel

Psychiatrist from Boston and mother of a teenager with profound autism, who was selected to chair the new autism advisory panel.

Alison Singer

Served on the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee from 2007 to 2019, and is the head of the Autism Science Foundation.

Joshua Gordon

Served as chair of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee from 2016 to 2023 while director of the National Institute of Mental Health.

Jacqueline Kancir

Executive director of the National Council on Severe Autism and parent of a profoundly autistic 22-year-old daughter.

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What they’re saying

“The new committee does not represent the autism community. It disproportionately, excruciatingly so, represents an extremely small subset of families who believe vaccines cause autism.”

— Alison Singer, Head of the Autism Science Foundation (The New York Times)

“Large-scale, population-wide studies of the M.M.R. vaccine and of thimerosal as an ingredient have not demonstrated a causal link with autism. That evidence is important and established. My interest is not in revisiting settled population-level questions, nor in making vaccine recommendations, which is outside the committee's role.”

— Sylvia Fogel, Chair of the new Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (The New York Times)

“Not a single scientist that I am familiar with as being an expert in autism research is on that list — and I know many, many such scientists. There are many important research issues that individuals with autism and their families and their communities care deeply about. Vaccines are not one of them. It is a fringe part of the community, which is overrepresented on this panel.”

— Joshua Gordon, Former chair of the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (The New York Times)

What’s next

The new Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee will begin meeting in February 2026 to advise the federal government on how to allocate $2 billion in autism research and services funding over the next five years.

The takeaway

The overhaul of the federal autism advisory panel raises concerns that it will shift the focus away from evidence-based research and services toward the discredited theory that vaccines cause autism. This could undermine progress in supporting the autism community and divert critical funding, despite the lack of scientific evidence linking vaccines to autism.