Under Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine advocate who is now Health and Human Services secretary, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised its website to say that its previous statement that “vaccines do not cause autism” is “not an evidence-based claim.” But it’s the revised website that misleads about vaccines.
On Nov. 19, the CDC replaced its webpage on autism and vaccines with a new one that leans into the discredited idea that vaccines might cause autism. Numerous rigorous studies have repeatedly failed to identify any link between vaccination and autism.
“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 webpage reads. “Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities.”
A prominent website subheading still reads “Vaccines do not cause Autism,” but now includes an asterisk. A footnote explains that the phrase was not removed as part of an agreement with Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. A physician who is a strong supporter of vaccines, Cassidy decided to back Kennedy’s nomination as HHS secretary only after Kennedy promised not to take down CDC statements that say vaccines do not cause autism, among other concessions to protect vaccination. Cassidy’s vote in a Senate committee was needed to move Kennedy’s nomination to the full Senate.

