Inside Trump's push to get RFK Jr to slash vaccines due to 'autism links'... as president's scathing assessment of health boss is revealed

By STEPHEN M. LEPORE, US SENIOR REPORTER Published: 06:33, 28 July 2026 | Updated: 06:44, 28 July 2026 Donald Trump has reportedly ignored top aides and pushed Robert F Kennedy Jr to slash vaccine requirements for children due to alleged autism links. Trump surprised the Health Secretary at his Virginia golf course when he accused him of not doing enough to find scientific research that backed up his long-held theories.  Multiple sources told The Wall Street Journal the confrontation between the two in May is common, with some saying Trump turns nearly every conversation with Kennedy toward the subject.  Kennedy himself was allegedly surprised because much of Trump's White House inner circle had advised him to soften his rhetoric on vaccines ahead of the November midterms.  The President wants Kennedy to be more active in fighting what they believe to be an activist federal judge who blocked federal health officials from reducing the recommended number of childhood vaccines in March.  Trump's push reportedly led Kennedy to petition an appeals court to speed up their decision in the administration's appeal against Judge Brian E Murphy's ruling. The president, multiple people told WSJ, believes that his legacy could include lowering autism rates and that Kennedy should make it his number one priority.   The President has frequently questioned the links between vaccines and autism, going against many traditional health experts. Donald Trump has gone against key aides and continued to push longtime vaccine skeptic and Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr to slash the shots for children over their alleged links to autism Despite RFK Jr's history as a critic of vaccines, Trump allegedly surprised him when he accused the secretary of not doing enough to research the connection and even having 'the yips.'  Kennedy in November personally directed the CDC to abandon its position that vaccines do not cause autism and helped push the President to recommend against women taking Tylenol during pregnancy.  However, advisors have reportedly told Trump to try and tone down his Tylenol statement and pollsters showed that both vaccine skepticism and trust in Kennedy's advice on the issue were low.  Kennedy and his staff agreed to focus instead on issues that polled better, like improving the quality of food and getting rid of food dyes.  RFK Jr's top advisor, Calley Means, put the food dye removal and other dietary rules as 'green light' topics in a memo to staff, with vaccines considered a 'red light' topic. However, the President has continued to demand Kennedy do more, especially after Judge Murphy blocked his vaccine scheduling plan, with RFK Jr leading the administration's appeal.  Despite Trump praising Kennedy as recently as Friday's White House Correspondents' Dinner, multiple sources told WSJ that the HHS department has come into question in recent months. Key White House adds put together an all-encompassing review of Kennedy's department and his management that saw two leaders reassigned after reports of fights between HHS and the Food and Drug Administration.  Kennedy has also been eased off of day-to-day operations and been used as more of an 'ideas guy' at the department.  Despite Trump praising Kennedy as recently as Friday's White House Correspondents' Dinner, multiple sources told WSJ that the HHS department has come into question in recent months RFK Jr's top advisor, Calley Means (pictured), reportedly put vaccines as a 'red light' topic that Kennedy should not discuss in public  Department staffers and lobbyists have also suggested Trump has been listening more to Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr Mehmet Oz and believe he could replace RFK Jr after the midterms.  Both had to deny rumors that Kennedy would quit the job shortly after July 4, with Oz leading a transition team.  Kennedy, however, reportedly sees himself as in it for the long haul, those close to him say, even potentially keeping the job under the next presidential administration.  'Secretary Kennedy and President Trump are aligned in their commitment to confronting the chronic disease epidemic affecting America’s children through rigorous, gold-standard science,' HHS Spokesperson Emily Hilliard told WSJ. 'America’s skyrocketing autism rates have long been ignored if not mocked. The Trump administration is committed to leaving no stone unturned to finally address these concerns with Gold Standard Science,' said White House spokesperson Kush Desai. The Daily Mail has reached out to both the White House and HHS for comment.  In March, Judge Brian E Murphy blocked federal health officials from reducing the recommended number of childhood vaccines.  He also ruled that Kennedy also likely violated federal procedures when he revamped a key vaccine advisory committee which helped secure the reforms.  Department staffers and lobbyists have also suggested Trump has been listening more to Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr Mehmet Oz and believe he could replace RFK Jr after the midterms In March, Judge Brian E Murphy blocked federal health officials from reducing the recommended number of childhood vaccines  The decision handed down temporarily halts Kennedy's order to end broad recommendations for all children to be vaccinated against flu, rotavirus, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, some forms of meningitis and RSV. It also stopped a meeting of a Kennedy-appointed vaccine advisory committee, which was set to convene this week in Atlanta. The judge's order, however, is not the final word. The blocks are temporary, pending either a trial or a decision for summary judgment. Federal health officials indicated they planned to appeal. 'HHS looks forward to this judge's decision being overturned just like his other attempts to keep the Trump administration from governing,' said Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Andrew Nixon at the time. The order was the latest development in a lawsuit filed in July 2025 by the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and some other medical groups. The lawsuit in federal court in Boston originally focused on Kennedy's decision to stop recommending COVID-19 vaccinations for most children and pregnant women.  The lawsuit was updated as Kennedy took more steps that alarmed medical societies, causing the plaintiffs to ask Judge Murphy to take steps to address those policy changes too. They also asked the court to look at Kennedy's actions concerning the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which advises public health officials on what vaccines to recommend to doctors and patients. Kennedy fired the entire 17-member panel last year and replaced it with a group that includes several anti-vaccine voices. Murphy, who was nominated to the bench by President Joe Biden, said Kennedy's reconstitution of ACIP likely violated federal law. He ordered the appointments and all decisions made by the reconstituted committee to be put on hold. The ACIP was scheduled to meet this week to discuss COVID-19 vaccine safety, among other issues, but that gathering was postponed, officials said. 'ACIP as currently constituted cannot meet,' said Richard Hughes IV, an attorney representing the AAP. 'How can a committee meet without nearly the entirety of its membership?' The Trump administration launched its appeal in late April, with a decision yet to be delivered.