Activists marched in 2015 to oppose to California legislation that eliminated non-medical exemptions to school vaccine mandates. The law went into effect this year.

Meeting with Trump emboldens anti-vaccine activists, who see an ally in the Oval Office

The discredited researcher who launched the anti-vaccine movement met with Donald Trump this summer — and found him sympathetic to the cause. Now, with Trump preparing to move into the White House, leaders of the movement are newly energized, hopeful they can undermine decades of public policy promoting childhood vaccinations.

At the most basic level, they’re hoping Trump will use his bully pulpit to advance his oft-stated concern — debunked by an extensive body of scientific evidence — that there’s a link between vaccines and autism.