The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) late on November 19, 2025 revised its site with language that undermines its previous, scientifically grounded position that immunizations do not cause the developmental disability autism.
Years of research demonstrate that there is no causal link between vaccinations and autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders (archived here).
But Robert F. Kennedy Jr, the nation's health chief, has long voiced anti-vaccine rhetoric and inaccurate claims connecting the two.
The CDC webpage on vaccines and autism had previously stated that studies show "no link between receiving vaccines and developing autism spectrum disorder," citing a body of high-quality research including a 2013 study from the agency itself (archived here).
That text reflects medical and scientific consensus, including guidance from the World Health Organization (archived here).
But the changes rebuke it. The website now asserts that "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."
David Mandell, director of the Penn Center for Mental Health at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, called the wording "bizarre" (archived here).
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