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The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has been moved to contradict the current scientific evidence that vaccines do not cause autism by not causing autism, an uproar among many health and autism experts.
The CDC’s “vaccine safety” webpage was updated Wednesday, saying “Vaccines do not cause autism ‘is not a claim based on correlation.’
This change comes in the wake of the US Department of Health and Human Services revising — and fueling uncertainty about — the longstanding scientific consensus on the safety of pharmaceutical products.
It was quickly revived by scientists and advocates who had long focused on finding the causes of autism.
“We are shocked to find that the content on the CDC’s ‘autism and vaccination’ webpage has been altered and distorted, and is now full of anti-vaccination and anti-vaccination,” the Autism Science Foundation said in a statement Thursday.
The scientific consensus and decades of studies have firmly concluded there is no link between vaccination and autism.
“The conclusion is clear and indisputable,” said Dr. Susan Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, in a statement on Thursday.
“We call on the CDC to stop wasting federal resources to promote false claims that cast doubt on one of the best tools we have to keep children healthy and thriving:
The CDC has, so far, revealed no link to the development of food and drug vaccines.
There was immediate pushback from medical experts and a major drug manufacturer after US President Donald Trump said without evidence that pregnant women should not take acetaminophen because it can cause autism.
But vaccine activists — including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who this year became secretary of health and human services — have long said there is.
It is not clear whether anyone at the CDC was actually involved in the change, or whether it was done by Kennedy’s HHS, which oversees the CDC.
Many at the CDC were surprised.
“I spoke to several scientists at the CDC yesterday and no one knew about this change in content,” said Dr. Debra Houry, who was part of a group of senior CDC officials who left the agency in August. “When scientists are judged on scientific reviews, then the information is wrong and the opinions are wrong.”
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The updated page does not mention any new research. That suggests that previous studies supporting the link have been ignored by health authorities.
“HHS has launched a comprehensive examination of the causes of autism, including investigations into biological mechanisms and possible causal links.
Several former CDC officials have said that CDC posts on certain subjects — including vaccine safety — can no longer be trusted.
Dr. Daniel Jernigan, who also left the agency in August, told reporters Wednesday that Kennedy appeared to be saying “From evidence-based decision-making to evidence-based decision-making.”
