This diagram represents an increase of 16.1 compared to the same CDC report released two years ago.
A report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States on April 15 showed that one in 31 children in the United States has autism.
The report urged Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to say that “the autism epidemic is ramping.”
“The prevalence of boys is one in 20, with one in 12.5 in California.”
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The new ADDM report was conducted in 2022 on 16 sites in 14 states and surveyed 8-year-old children born in 2014.
Additionally, the prevalence of new autism was 4.8 times higher than the first ADDM survey 22 years ago, with 150 children being autistic in 150 children.
“The autism epidemic has reached an unprecedented scale in human history as it affects youth,” Kennedy said in a statement on April 15th.
“The risk and costs of this crisis are 1,000 times more threatening our country than Covid-19. Autism is preventable and we cannot accept that we have not yet identified the underlying cause.
Autism Society spokeswoman Christine Ross told The Associated Press that further research is needed to find the cause of autism, but she is wary of Kennedy’s approach.
“There is a deep concern that we are retreating and evaluating the theory that has been exposed,” Ross said.
Autism, or Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), according to autism stories, refers to a wide range of conditions characterized by challenges that involve social skills, repetitive behavior, speech, and nonverbal communication.
The National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986 established the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP), a non-disability system to compensate individuals injured by specific vaccines.
This eliminates the potential financial liability of vaccine manufacturers due to vaccine injuries claims.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was sworn in as Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services on February 13, 2025 at his Oval Office in Washington. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
In the early 1990s, one in every 10,000 children were diagnosed with autism. In the first decade of this century, estimates rose to one-fifths of the year. In 2018, he was one in 44th before reaching 36 in 2020.
Last December, President Donald Trump said he would give Kennedy the freedom to investigate the potential link between vaccines and autism.
“If you look at some of the issues, what’s happening with illness and illness in our country, something’s wrong,” Trump said in December.
“I think someone has to find it. If I went back 25 years ago, I had very few autism.”
For years, Kennedy has said autism is likely linked to childhood vaccines.
At Trump’s April 10 Cabinet meeting, Kennedy announced that HHS has “launched a massive testing and research initiative involving hundreds of scientists from around the world,” determining the cause of the surge in autism rates in recent years.
“By September, we will know what caused the autism outbreak, and we will be able to eliminate those exposures,” he pointed out.
For parents and vaccine safety advocates such as Scott Shoemaker and Maryjo Perry, extensive research into the potential link between childhood vaccines and autism has long been delayed.
Shoemaker told the Epoch Times that his son was diagnosed with autism at 15 months.
“The bottom line is that we want the truth,” said Shoemaker, Ohio Health president. “We want a safe product for our kids. We just say that vaccines are safe and effective, and that’s not what big pharmaceutical companies want.”
“It has to happen,” Perry told the Epoch Times. “Pharma companies have no responsibility or accountability. That needs to be changed.”
Perry, president of Mississippi parents for vaccine rights, said all vaccines should undergo extensive safety research and the results should be “accurate and transparent.”
“If it’s good and safe, your parents will use it,” she said. “If it’s good and safe, there’s no need to force a parent.”
