A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention webpage about autism and vaccines has updated its information about the link between autism and vaccinations, no longer stating that there is no connection between the two.
The page, which was updated on Wednesday, echoes U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s skepticism of vaccines and the correlation between a rise in vaccination and autism rates, which studies have failed to prove.
“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 first line on the site reads. A few paragraphs down, it says that “this statement has historically been disseminated by the CDC and other federal health agencies within HHS to prevent vaccine hesitancy.”
A previous version of the page used the same headline: “Vaccines do not cause autism.” But now, that statement has an asterisk next to it, indicating that the headline remained on the site because of an agreement with Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. Cassidy is also a medical doctor.
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website has been changed to promote false information suggesting vaccines cause autism,” said Susan Kressly, the president of the American Academy of Pediatrics in a statement Thursday. “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.”
Over the past three decades, studies have consistently failed to find any connection between vaccines and autism, including a 2019 study from Denmark that followed over 650,000 children over 10 years. The study found no greater incidence of autism in vaccinated versus unvaccinated children.
But the updated CDC page states that “the rise in autism prevalence since the 1980s correlates with the rise in the number of vaccines given to infants.”
The Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC and other public health organizations, has launched a “comprehensive assessment of the causes of autism,” according to the website.
“The conclusion is clear and unambiguous: There’s no link between vaccines and autism,” Kressly said. “Anyone repeating this harmful myth is misinformed or intentionally trying to mislead parents.”
