U.S. health secretary Robert F.
Kennedy Jr. is pursuing federal government access to most Americans’ medical records, in a quest to research a link between vaccines and autism — a connection the medical establishment studied for decades and flatly rejects.
The Department of Health and Human Services is seeking data from little-known state systems that allow hospitals and clinics to exchange detailed, identifiable patient information, KFF Health News has learned. In private meetings, some public health leaders have objected to giving Kennedy’s team access to such data, raising doubts that it’s legal or that the information would even be useful.
They have also expressed concerns about allowing the federal government to peer into the minutiae of Americans’ medical records, which could mean viewing anything from doctors’ notes to prescription history. HHS has offered no insight into how it will protect or handle the personal health information it obtains.
But Kennedy told KFF Health News that medical records are key to investigating the cause of autism, vaccine safety, and chronic diseases.
KFF Health News published a clinical update in Research Highlights on 04 Jun 2026.
The item focuses on RFK Jr.
Seeks To Peek at Americans’ Medical Records for Clues on Autism and Vaccines.
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