CDC replaces vaccines, autism website with false, misleading statements

The National Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has changed its website on autism and vaccines, removing unequivocal statements that vaccinations do not cause neurodevelopmental disorders and replacing them with inaccurate and misleading information about the links between vaccines and autism.

Until Wednesday, CDC page, “Autism and Vaccines” began: “Studies have shown that there is no link between receiving vaccines and the development of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). »

This was followed, in large print, by the direct 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 a causal link between the two.

On Wednesday, the page was edited so that it now begins: “The statement that ‘vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based statement because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.”

The words “Vaccines do not cause autism” still appear at the top, but with an asterisk leading to a note at the bottom.

“The header ‘Vaccines do not cause autism’ was not removed due to an agreement with the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions that it would remain on the CDC website,” the site said.

The chairman of that committee, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), voted decisively to advance the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services, in exchange for Kennedy’s nomination. promise that it will not erode public trust in vaccines.

“Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities,” HHS spokesperson Andrew Dixon said in an email. “We are updating the CDC website to reflect evidence-based gold standard science.”

The news sparked outrage among scientists and advocates.

“We are dismayed to see that the content of the CDC webpage”Autism and vaccines“has been altered 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 old science-based, fact-based website has been replaced with misinformation and now actually contradicts the best available science.”

The current CDC page now states that the increase in autism diagnoses correlates with an increase in the number of vaccines given to infants. Several researchers have argued that the increase in autism spectrum disorder diagnoses is better explained by a broader diagnostic definition of the disorder, as well as better monitoring and diagnosis for a larger number of children.

Cassidy’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment Thursday.