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HOW A GOVERNMENT AUTISM STUDY COULD DESTROY VACCINE ACCESS IN AMERICA
 
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Jess Steier
August 19, 2025
Unbiased Science
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_ A government study promising to identify "the cause" of autism by
September is being positioned to blame vaccines despite decades of
evidence to the contrary. These aren't isolated policy changes.
They're coordinated elements of a strategy. _

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In 2025, America's vaccine infrastructure came under direct attack.
Research grants for mRNA vaccine development totaling $500 million
were canceled
[[link removed]].
All sitting members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization
Practices were dismissed
[[link removed]] (replaced
by people with concerning histories of anti-vaccine tendencies
[[link removed]]).
The Vaccine Injury Compensation Program
[[link removed]] (the legal framework that
has protected both manufacturers and the public for nearly four
decades) was positioned for "reform
[[link removed]]."
And a government study promising to identify "the cause" of autism by
September [[link removed]] is being
positioned to blame vaccines despite decades of evidence to the
contrary
[[link removed]].

_Houston, we have a problem._

These aren't isolated policy changes. They're coordinated elements of
a strategy to recreate the conditions that nearly eliminated vaccines
from America once before. Many of us are deeply concerned about
vaccine access for our children, our parents, and ourselves. _Let’s
discuss…_

WHAT [I HOPE] MY NYT PIECE ACHIEVES

My essay exposes the specific tactics we can expect from this promised
study: a masterclass in statistical maneuvering designed to
manufacture a supposed "link" between vaccines and autism. The piece
reveals the deeply problematic background of the expected study
leadership and why this choice virtually guarantees predetermined
conclusions that contradict decades of legitimate research.

We've seen this playbook before; when thimerosal was removed from
vaccines in 2001, autism rates continued rising. When Andrew
Wakefield's fraudulent MMR study was debunked, critics moved to new
targets. Now it's aluminum's turn, despite overwhelming evidence of
safety.

_The pattern is clear– no amount of evidence will ever be sufficient
because the goal isn't scientific truth but manufactured controversy
to justify policy changes._

THE PATH FORWARD

This isn't a debate about vaccine safety— researchers take that
seriously and study it continuously. This is a coordinated campaign to
undermine evidence-based medicine itself. When the nation's top
health official calls for retracting peer-reviewed research
[[link removed]] (a recent Danish study
that assessed data from 1.2 million children) based
on misrepresentations of scientific methodology
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we've moved beyond normal scientific discourse into dangerous
territory.

_I hope that by exposing these tactics, we can give people the agency
to recognize them._

We are potentially watching the methodical dismantling of one of
humanity's greatest public health achievements
[[link removed]],
not because new evidence has emerged, but because of coordinated
manipulation designed to manufacture uncertainty where scientific
consensus exists.

The question now is whether we will allow sophisticated misinformation
to triumph over decades of scientific progress, or whether we'll
defend the institutions and evidence that have made modern medicine
possible. Our children's health, and the integrity of evidence-based
medicine itself, depend on our answer.

The time for complacency has passed. We know their playbook. The
question is: what will we do with that knowledge?

THE 1980S BLUEPRINT

In 1982, NBC's "DPT: Vaccine Roulette" documentary sparked a
litigation crisis that nearly destroyed America's vaccine supply. The
widely viewed television program wrongly suggested that pertussis
vaccines caused brain damage. As Dr. Paul Offit has brilliantly
documented, lawsuits against manufacturers exploded from 3 in 1981 to
255 by 1985, with damage claims soaring from $25 million to $3.2
billion
[[link removed]].
Defense costs exceeded vaccine revenues. Companies fled the
market—pertussis vaccine makers dropped from seven to one, measles
from six to one.

Only the 1986 creation of the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program
saved childhood vaccination. The no-fault system, funded by vaccine
excise taxes, provided compensation for legitimate injuries caused by
vaccines while protecting manufacturers from crushing litigation
costs.

Ironically, as Dr. Offit points out,
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brain damage blamed on pertussis vaccines was later found to be
Dravet's Syndrome
[[link removed]],
a genetic disorder. The vaccine was blameless, but the damage was
done.

TODAY'S SOPHISTICATED STRATEGY

The current anti-vaccine movement has learned from this history. Their
strategy is more systematic, centered around a government-sponsored
study designed to deliver predetermined conclusions about vaccines and
autism.

THE PROMISED STUDY
At a Cabinet meeting in April, the Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy,
Jr. told President Trump that HHS was undertaking a massive study
that would identify "the cause" of rising autism diagnoses
[[link removed]] by September. This
isn't legitimate scientific inquiry; good science asks questions and
tests hypotheses, it doesn't start with conclusions and work
backwards. We all know where this study will point its finger:
vaccines.

MANUFACTURING "EVIDENCE"
Despite decades of robust research _FINDING NO VACCINE-AUTISM LINK_,
this September study appears designed to contradict established
science. The choice of leadership for this research, as detailed in my
NYT piece, reveals the predetermined nature of its conclusions.

WEAPONIZING AUTISM
Perhaps most troubling is how autism is being systematically
weaponized and stigmatized
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positioned as something worse than the potentially deadly diseases
vaccines prevent. We aren't experiencing an "autism epidemic."
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have a good understanding of autism's complex, multifactorial causes.
Yet autism continues to be used as a boogeyman to justify dismantling
public health protections.

THE ULTIMATE GOAL
Once this manufactured "evidence" emerges in September, it may be used
to expand the VICP to include autism. The resulting flood of claims
would bankrupt the compensation system, forcing vaccine manufacturers
to exit the market rather than face unlimited liability for conditions
unrelated to their products.

THE STAKES

The implications extend beyond vaccines to evidence-based medicine
itself. We're witnessing an attempt to legitimize predetermined
conclusions through government authority rather than scientific merit.

Consider what happens if autism becomes officially recognized as a
vaccine injury: families across America could file compensation claims
for a condition that occurs in 1 in 31 children
[[link removed]], has no proven
vaccine link, but happens to be diagnosed around the same age children
complete their vaccination schedule. The temporal correlation creates
perfect conditions for exploitation through selective data
presentation.

Most troublingly, this strategy positions autism—a neurological
difference that affects millions of Americans—as something so
terrible that it justifies dismantling protections against actually
deadly diseases. The stigmatization is both scientifically unfounded
and morally reprehensible.

We can see the crisis coming—that knowledge is our power.

Stay Curious,

Unbiased Science

_Read my full New York Times analysis
[[link removed]] of
the specific tactics being deployed to manufacture vaccine-autism
links and the dangerous implications for America's public health
infrastructure._

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health and science topics. _Thank you for considering it!_

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