Inside an anti-vaccine autism summit in the age of RFK Jr.

A San Diego summit offered treatments that promised to help heal autism, a condition the attendees believe is caused by vaccines, though science says otherwise.

SAN DIEGO — The attendees of the second-annual Autism Health Summit had already sat through hours of presentations about treatments that promise miracles to help heal the condition — water filters and electromagnetic gadgets, supplements, stem cell treatments only available in Europe, and fecal transplants here in the U.S.  

Of all the speakers at the conference, the one who got the biggest round of applause wasn’t even in the room.  

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a former fixture at this kind of gathering, addressed the audience in a short, prerecorded video — not as the anti-vaccine lawyer and activist as he had so many times before, but as a member of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, the secretary of health and human Services. 

And from that seat of power, Kennedy affirmed he was still their man, praising summit organizers Tracey and Steve Slepcevic as “dear friends” who had “given their lives in service to the autistic and their families."

“Your issue is no longer on the fringe,” he said, finishing with a promise of a future “where autism is once again, very rare, where families with autism are well supported, where people on the spectrum are valued for the unique gifts they have to offer in our society.” 

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/anti-vaccine-autism-summit-age-rfk-jr-rcna200240

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