The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website has been updated to challenge the established scientific consensus that vaccines do not lead to autism. This alteration has sparked criticism from various public health and autism specialists.
On Wednesday, the CDC’s “vaccine safety” webpage was modified to state that the assertion “Vaccines do not cause autism” lacks evidence-based support. This adjustment is part of a broader trend within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to reconsider long-standing scientific agreements regarding vaccine and pharmaceutical safety.
The revision was met with dismay by scientists and advocates investigating autism causes. The Autism Science Foundation expressed shock at the altered content on the CDC’s “Autism and Vaccines” webpage, labeling it as containing anti-vaccine sentiments and falsehoods about vaccines and autism.
Despite decades of research and a strong scientific consensus, confirming no association between vaccines and autism, the CDC’s recent stance has raised concerns. Dr. Susan Kressly, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, emphasized the clear and unequivocal conclusion that vaccines are crucial for children’s health and well-being.
While the CDC had previously aligned with the absence of a link between vaccines and autism, the recent change has created uncertainty. Anti-vaccine proponents, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., have long promoted the existence of such a connection.
It remains unclear whether the CDC was directly involved in the alteration or if it was orchestrated by the Health and Human Services department under Kennedy’s leadership. Many CDC personnel were caught off guard by the change, highlighting the importance of scientific input in such decisions.
The revised webpage lacks new research citations but argues that prior studies supporting a vaccine-autism link have been disregarded by health authorities. The Health and Human Services spokesperson, Andrew Nixon, stated that a comprehensive evaluation of autism causes is underway, emphasizing evidence-based updates to CDC information.
Former CDC officials have expressed skepticism about the agency’s credibility on certain topics, particularly vaccine safety. Dr. Daniel Jernigan, who resigned from the CDC in August, criticized Kennedy’s shift from evidence-based decision-making to decision-oriented evidence creation.
