CDC website altered to reflect RFK Jr’s belief in link between vaccines and autism

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website has been changed to reflect the belief of Robert F Kennedy Jr, the US health and human services secretary, that there is a link between vaccines and autism, a view flatly contradicted by experts and scientifically validated studies.

Public health and autism specialists roundly condemned the alteration to the CDC’s “vaccine safety” webpage, after it was changed to read: “The statement ‘Vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim.” Pointedly, it added: “Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities.”

The extent of the change was further underlined by an asterisk affixed to a pre-existing statement underneath, reading “vaccines do not cause autism”. An explanation at the bottom of the page said the statement had not been removed “due to an agreement with the chair of the US Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee that it would remain on the CDC website”.

That explanation was in reference to the Louisiana Republican senator, Bill Cassidy, a medical doctor, who initially opposed Kennedy’s nomination as health secretary but later voted to confirm him on the basis that statements about how vaccines do not cause autism would remain on the CDC site.

The new page did not cite any new research. It simply stated: “HHS [health and human services] has launched a comprehensive assessment of the causes of autism, including investigations on plausible biologic mechanisms and potential causal links.”

The changes appear to be the latest example of Kennedy’s determination to impose his beliefs on the sprawling Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the CDC. They also triggered severe backlash from scientists and advocates, with former and present CDC staff saying the updated page did not go through the normal, scientific clearance process.

“I spoke with several scientists at CDC yesterday and none were aware of this change in content,” Debra Houry, one of a group of CDC top officials who resigned in August, told the AP. “When scientists are cut out of scientific reviews, then inaccurate and ideologic information results.”

The move was also condemned by the Autism Science Foundation, an organization that initially gave a cautious welcome to Kennedy’s stated mission to investigate the causes of autism – a disorder that can manifest itself in speech difficulties and repetitive behavior – after his confirmation. “We are appalled to find that the content on the CDC webpage ‘Autism and Vaccines’ has been changed and distorted, and is now filled with anti-vaccine rhetoric and outright lies about vaccines and autism,” the foundation said in a statement.

A previous version of the page stated that “studies have shown that there is no link between receiving vaccines and developing autism spectrum disorder (ASD). No links have been found between any vaccine ingredients and ASD.”

“The conclusion is clear and unambiguous,” said Dr Susan Kressly, 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.”

A number of former CDC officials have said that what the CDC posts about certain subjects – including vaccine safety – can no longer be trusted. Dr Daniel Jernigan, who also resigned from the agency in August, told reporters that Kennedy seems to be “going from evidence-based decision making to decision-based evidence making”.

Besides positing a link between vaccines and autism, Kennedy has subscribed to the belief that the condition may be caused by pregnant people taking Tylenol, a suspicion pushed vociferously by Donald Trump, who has urged expectant mothers to avoid taking the over-the-counter drug.