A draft strategic plan publicized by a federal autism committee last month outlines a framework for developing “precision” medical treatment and supporting better long-term care for autistic people — but, according to critics, makes no provision for studying a possible link between vaccines and autism.
The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC), which advises U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on autism policies, released the draft plan for public comment last month. The plan recommends defining autism as a condition that may have more than one cause, and that may lead to multiple medical conditions.
The draft plan is also linked to ongoing federal research examining the possible causes of autism and the reasons for its increased prevalence in the U.S. — rising from 1 in 150 children in 2000 to 1 in 31 children in 2022.
According to a statement by the Autism Action Network reviewed by The Defender, while the role of vaccines in autism “is the most contentious and important of the many unanswered questions about autism,” the draft strategic plan includes no mention of studying a possible link.
“Nowhere in the current draft … are ‘vaccines’ or ‘immunizations’ even mentioned, nor are they identified as research subjects for causing autism,” the statement reads.
According to the statement, the report cites environmental factors and medical products as possible factors contributing to the onset of autism. But while these are “broad categories which could include vaccines,” the plan lacks “unequivocal, explicit language” calling for vaccine-autism research.
However, a person familiar with the workings of the IACC who asked to remain anonymous told The Defender that “nothing is excluded and nothing is off the table.”
The source said it was “very important” for the committee to avoid focusing on any one particular potential cause, and for “multiple members of the committee not to be reductionistic and not to reduce autism to one cause or one factor, because I think it’s very clear at this point that this is a sort of a multifactorial process.”
The individual said that the community of autistic people and their caretakers is “drowning” — and requires care and support instead of negative attention.
“Our community is drowning. We have parents, support givers and caregivers who are just inundated with behavioral and caregiving stress … it was very important to the many members of the committee that we make headway on those areas without encountering the massive onslaught of negative attention and coverage that would come from naming any particular environmental exposure.”
Hellbound and Down 