"There’s a way to talk about autism without stripping autistic people of their humanity. Calling kids burdens who’ll never 'contribute' isn’t policy, it’s ableist."

The health and human services secretary on Wednesday suggested that autistic children would never play baseball or pay taxes, enraging those in the community.

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.”