The latest report on autism from the CDC found that autism rates in 8-year-olds rose from 1 in 36 in 2020 to 1 in 31 in 2022, continuing a long-term uptick in diagnoses of the condition. That rate is nearly five times higher than in 2000, when the agency first began collecting data on the disorder.

Kennedy, Hotez says, made a “false statement” in claiming that the scientific community denies that there are any environmental factors at play. “I’ve said to RFK Jr. that there could be an environmental component, but not vaccines, because autism occurs in fetal brain development well before kids ever see vaccines.”

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) will provide private health data to researchers for U.S. health chief Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s new autism study. NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya told advisers the aim is to help researchers study autism by giving them access to "comprehensive" health records.