CNN
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Scientific information on the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website was updated and replaced Wednesday with anti-vaccine arguments that do not rule out a possible link between vaccines and autism, despite abundant evidence showing there is no such connection.
The main points at the top of the page now indicate that the claim “vaccines do not cause autism” is not evidence-based, as studies have not ruled out the possibility that childhood vaccines cause autism. However, most scientific evidence shows this is not true, according to a statement from the Autism Science Foundation.
“The science is clear: vaccines do not cause autism. No environmental factor has been as studied as a possible cause of autism as vaccines. This includes both the ingredients in vaccines and the body’s response to them,” the Autism Science Foundation stated in a statement this Thursday.
Other points on the CDC website claim that health authorities have ignored studies supporting a link between vaccines and autism. This is not true either. Studies showing a connection between vaccines and autism have turned out to be fraudulent, poorly conducted or biased. There are numerous well-conducted and credible studies that do not find such a relationship.
The page also indicates that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has begun a comprehensive evaluation of the causes of autism, including research into possible biological mechanisms and potential causal links.
The main title of the page states: “Vaccines do not cause autism,” but now includes an asterisk referring to a footnote: “The title ‘Vaccines do not cause autism’ has not been removed due to an agreement with the chairman of the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions for it to remain on the CDC website.”
The footnote appears to refer to a commitment that U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. made to Sen. Bill Cassidy, a physician and Louisiana Republican, during his confirmation process that information “that vaccines do not cause autism” would not be removed from the CDC website. Cassidy outlined this promise in a speech in which he explained his support for Kennedy, a long-time anti-vaccine activist.
Department of Health and Human Services spokesman Andrew Nixon stated Thursday: “We are updating the CDC website to reflect the most rigorous, evidence-based scientific evidence.”
In a social media post Wednesday night, Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, who recently resigned from his position as director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, called the changes “a national disgrace.”
“The instrumentalization of the CDC’s voice is getting worse. This is a public health emergency,” he said.
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Daskalakis stated that CDC scientists were completely caught off guard by the page update.
“This distortion of science under the name of the CDC is the reason why I and my colleagues resigned,” he told CNN.
CNN has contacted the CDC for comment.
This is the latest move by the Trump administration to disrupt long-standing vaccination policy and practice in the United States and sow doubt about the vaccines.
Kennedy has recruited former anti-vaccine allies, including David Geier, a discredited researcher who was sanctioned by the Maryland State Board of Physicians for practicing medicine without a license, and Lyn Redwood, a nurse and former president of the World Mercury Project, which later became Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine group Kennedy led before running for public office. Both have hired these allies to conduct new evaluations of government data to prove conspiracy theories that vaccine risks have long been hidden from the public.
The rate of routine childhood vaccinations has declined in the United States, allowing preventable diseases like measles and whooping cough to spread rapidly. This year, the United States has recorded the highest number of measles cases in 25 years. In a call with state health officials Monday, CDC disease researchers leading the measles response suggested that the United States’ status as a country that has eliminated the continued spread of measles is in jeopardy as cases continue to rise.
