The National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has modified its website on autism and vaccines, eliminating unequivocal statements that vaccines do not cause the neurodevelopmental disorder and replacing them with inaccurate and misleading information about the links between vaccines and autism.
Until Wednesday, CDC page, “Autism and Vaccines,” It began: “Studies have shown that there is no link between receiving vaccines and developing autism spectrum disorder (ASD).”
This was followed, in large print, by the forceful statement: “Vaccines do not cause autism.”
The rest of the page summarized some of the CDC's own studies on autism and vaccine ingredients, none of which found causal links between the two.
On Wednesday, the page was modified to now begin: “The statement 'vaccines do not cause autism' is not an evidence-based statement because studies have not ruled out the possibility that childhood vaccines cause autism.”
The words “Vaccines do not cause autism” still appear near the top, but with an asterisk leading to a note at the bottom.
“The 'Vaccines Do Not Cause Autism' heading has not been removed due to an agreement with the Chairman of the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions that it would remain on the CDC website,” the site states.
That committee's chairman, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), cast the deciding vote to advance the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of Health and Human Services, in exchange for Kennedy's presidency. promise that it would not erode public trust in vaccines.
“Health authorities have ignored studies that support a link,” HHS spokesman Andrew Dixon said in an email. “We are updating the CDC website to reflect the gold standard, evidence-based science.”
The news was met with outrage from scientists and advocates.
“We are dismayed to discover that the content of the CDC's website 'Autism and vaccines' has been changed and distorted, and is now filled with anti-vaccine rhetoric and outright lies about vaccines and autism,” the nonprofit Autism Science Foundation said in a statement. “The CDC's former science- and evidence-based website has been replaced with misinformation and now actually contradicts the best science available.”
The current CDC page now says that the increase in autism diagnoses correlates with an increase in the number of vaccines given to babies. Multiple researchers have argued that the Increase in diagnoses of autism spectrum disorders. It is best explained by an increasing diagnostic definition of the disorder, along with better monitoring and diagnosis for more children.
Cassidy's office did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.
