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The Trump administration’s embrace of unproven or debunked theories about vaccines and Tylenol has left doctors fielding questions from worried parents.
Oct. 14, 2025, 11:22 a.m. ET
The first time Bill heard the term “autism” applied to his little boy, “it felt like a curse word,” he said.
Yes, little Billy was slow to learn language and did not seem to engage with people. But autism? What was in store for him? Would he be able to live independently? Drive a car? Get a job? Marry?
And why? Why did his beautiful, 3-year-old toddler have this disorder, Bill, who asked that his last name not be used to protect Billy’s privacy, recalled wondering.
“I want to know what causes it,” he told Cathy Lord, a clinical psychologist and autism expert in a three-hours-long Zoom session from her office at the University of California, Los Angeles. Bill, in his apartment, told Dr. Lord that he had gotten a lot of suggestions from friends and relatives, and especially from social media.
His wife did not take Tylenol, but could it be red dyes in food that were the culprit? Or, as he saw on TikTok, a lack of vitamin B6?
“Do you think it has anything to do with vaccines?” he asked Dr. Lord. Billy is fully vaccinated.
For Dr. Lord, such questions are all too familiar.
