The US’ health agency has updated its official Web site to reflect vaccine skepticism, a move that medical and public health experts widely condemned.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Wednesday revised its Web site with language that undermines its previous, scientifically grounded position that immunizations do not cause the developmental disability autism.
Years of research demonstrate there is no causal link between vaccinations and autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders, but US Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr has long voiced anti-vaccine rhetoric and inaccurate claims connecting the two.
Photo: AFP
The CDC Web page on vaccines and autism previously stated that studies show “no link between receiving vaccines and developing autism spectrum disorder,” citing a body of high-quality research, including a 2013 study from the agency itself.
That text reflected medical and scientific consensus, including guidance from the WHO.
However, the Web site now states, “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 revised language accuses health authorities of having “ignored” research supporting a link and said the US health department “has launched a comprehensive assessment of the causes of autism.”
A purported connection between the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine and autism stemmed from a flawed study published in 1998, which was retracted for including falsified data. Its results have not been replicated and are refuted by subsequent research.
Amid the rewrite, one header remained: “Vaccines do not cause Autism.”
A footnote explains that the line was not cut due to an agreement Kennedy had made with US Senator Bill Cassidy, a medical doctor who chairs the US Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.
Cassidy on Thursday insisted on vaccine safety and efficacy in a post on X, saying “any statement to the contrary is wrong, irresponsible and actively makes Americans sicker.”
“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,” he said.
The CDC Web site edits were met with anger and fear by career scientists and other public health figures who have spent years combatting such false information, including from within the agency.
“I feel like we are going back to the Dark Ages. I feel like we are undermining science by tying it to people’s political agendas,” Boston University Center for Autism Research Excellence director Helen Tager-Flusberg said. “We’re going to see a significant increase in these childhood diseases.”
American Academy of Pediatrics president Susan Kressly said, “we call on the CDC to stop wasting government resources to amplify false claims that sow doubt in one of the best tools we have to keep children healthy and thriving: routine immunizations.”
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