RFK Jr.'s latest 'Make America Healthy Again' report calls for more
scrutiny of vaccines and autism
[September 10, 2025]
By AMANDA SEITZ
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration directed the nation's public
health and environmental agencies to prioritize investigations into
vaccine injuries, prescription drug use and autism's causes in its
latest “Make America Healthy Again” report released Tuesday.
The 20-page report, overseen by Health and Human Services Secretary
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., echoes many of the talking points Kennedy and
those in his wide-ranging and politically diverse “MAHA” movement have
united around. The document promises to put an end to childhood diseases
and to make children healthier, but does not lay out regulatory changes
to ensure an overhaul of Americans' health.
Among the report's recommendations is a call for more rigorous
government investigations into vaccine injuries, a move that could stir
more uproar as lawmakers raise alarm over how the health secretary's
anti-vaccine policies have thrown the nation's public health agency into
weeks of tumult.
Kennedy promised to “recast the entire program” for investigating
vaccine injuries as he joined administration officials to unveil the
MAHA report. Currently, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
investigates injuries that are reported by individuals or providers.
“They will be welcomed and we will learn everything we can about them so
we can improve the safety of these products,” Kennedy said of people who
report vaccine injuries. He added that doctors are not currently
compensated for filing complaints for vaccine injuries.
A bipartisan group of senators has raised alarm over Kennedy's actions
at the CDC, which was thrown into chaos last month when Kennedy abruptly
fired his hand-picked director and other top leaders walked out on the
job, citing disagreements over immunization recommendations. Last week,
senators grilled Kennedy over his anti-vaccine agenda and leadership of
the public health agencies.
The Trump administration's cuts to federal health programs, including
Medicaid, as well as Kennedy's anti-vaccine rhetoric, could ultimately
lead to worse health outcomes for children, Dr. Susan J. Kressly, the
president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said in a statement.
“It lacks details on how the Administration plans to address those
issues and omits key drivers that harm children’s health, including gun
violence and environmental hazards,” Kressly said of the report. “We
also cannot ignore the fact that this report is being published in the
context of other recent harmful actions by the Administration and
Congress that undermine many of the report’s recommendations.”
An earlier version of the report was first leaked and publicized in
August. Slight changes have been made to the final draft, which was
developed by a “MAHA” commission that included Kennedy and other members
of the president's cabinet. Despite pledging “radical transparency,” the
commission never held a public meeting ahead of the report's release.
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Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,
appears before the Senate Finance Committee, on Capitol Hill in
Washington, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
 Among the differences in the final
version of the report released on Tuesday is a call for the National
Institutes of Health to use personal medical records and health
insurance claims data to investigate the cause of diseases and
disorders, including autism.
“The NIH will link multiple datasets, such as claims information,
electronic health records, and wearables data, into a single
integrated dataset for researchers studying the causes of, and
developing treatments for, the chronic disease crisis,” the report
says.
Kennedy has vowed for months that he would unveil the cause of
autism, a complex developmental disorder that impacts the brain, by
September. He has promised to execute a massive research effort to
identify the disorder's causes, but has stayed mum on details
regarding who is conducting that research and when it will be
released.
Last month, President Donald Trump pressed Kennedy for his findings
during a cabinet meeting.
Those who have spent decades researching autism have found no single
cause. Besides genetics, scientists have identified various possible
factors, including the age of a child’s father, the mother’s weight,
and whether she had diabetes or was exposed to certain chemicals.
Trump ordered his first action as a result of the MAHA report’s
recommendations on Tuesday evening, signing a memorandum to beef up
enforcement of pharmaceutical ads that run across TVs, websites and
social media accounts. Administration officials said during a call
on Tuesday that they would be sending “hundreds” of letters to
pharmaceutical companies that have run misleading ads.
The “MAHA” report addressed a number of other issues, including
ultraprocessed food consumption, water quality, fluoride and the use
of prescription drugs in children. Agencies, including the health
department and the Department of Justice, should increase
enforcement and oversight of prescription drug ads, especially those
published by social media influencers and telehealth companies, the
report says.
The National Institutes of Health, which is facing a 40% cut to its
budget, is tasked with undertaking much of the MAHA-related research
in the report.
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Associated Press writer Matthew Perrone contributed.
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