The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has walked back its decades-old insistence that vaccines do not cause autism, updating its website late Wednesday to promote a debunked link between the two.
The agency’s website on vaccines and autism now makes several false claims about a connection, reflecting Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s skepticism about vaccine safety.
Kennedy has repeatedly linked vaccines to the disorder, and now the nation’s top public health agency has changed its stance to reflect that stance, despite numerous studies conducted over decades that prove otherwise.
A previous version of the webpage stated “there is no link” between receiving vaccines and developing autism, and said there is “no link” between any vaccine ingredients and autism. It cited a 2012 National Academy of Medicine review of scientific papers and a CDC study from 2013.
Late Wednesday, the website was overhauled. It now states that the statement that 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 agency also states that “studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities.”
Studies over the past three decades in different countries across different age groups consistently have found no connection between vaccines and autism.
In a statement Thursday, leaders of the Autism Science Foundation expressed dismay at the CDC’s...
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