The page on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website concerning vaccinations and autism now repeats false claims of a possible connection between the two. It’s a view shared by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and his former organization, which called it “biggest public health reversal of our lifetime.”
Website change
The “Vaccine Safety” page used to read studies have found “no link between receiving vaccines and developing autism spectrum disorder.”
That has changed.
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“The claim ’vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism,” the website now reads.
The site claims any studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities and that HHS launched a comprehensive assessment of the causes of autism.
The CDC also took down a page advising pregnant women on the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccination.
Vaccines and autism
Repeated studies over several decades have consistently found no connection between vaccines and autism. That includes a major study out of Denmark where scientists examined the country’s entire childhood population over a decade.
The CDC page in question still contains a subheading saying “vaccines do not cause autism.”
That header remains on the page because of Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who’s a medical doctor. A footnote on the page said that statement remains as part of an agreement with Cassidy to keep it on the CDC website.
“I’m a doctor who has seen people die from vaccine-preventable diseases,” Cassidy posted on X Thursday. “What parents need to hear right now is vaccines for measles, polio, hepatitis B and other childhood diseases are safe and effective and will not cause autism. Any statement to the contrary is wrong, irresponsible, and actively makes Americans sicker.”
Reaction
Health professionals condemned the move as dangerous.
“The CDC just rewrote its vaccine-autism webpage, suggesting we can’t definitively state vaccines don’t cause autism,” Dr. Jake Scott, an infectious disease doctor, wrote on X. “This exploits a philosophical trick about proving negatives while ignoring studies of millions of children with consistent findings.”
Another physician agreed that Kennedy and his team are using wordplay to get around the issue.
“If RFK Jr. wanted to be honest with the American public, he would make it clear on the CDC’s website that chicken nuggets also might cause autism, which has never been and will never be disproven,” Dr. Paul Offit wrote on his Substack.
Professionals in the field of autism agreed.
“All we can do in the scientific community is point to the preponderance of the evidence, the number of studies, the fact that the studies are so conclusive,” Alison Singer, president and co-founder of the Autism Science Foundation, told CNN. “These studies all agree. They’re very clear, and it’s time to move on.”
Children’s Health Defense, Kennedy’s former organization and a place where he reportedly gets some of his information, cheered the decision.
“This is the biggest public health reversal of our lifetime,” the organization posted on X. “And it confirms what parents have been shouting for decades.”
