(Reuters) – The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention updated its website on Wednesday to say claims that vaccines do not cause autism are not “based on evidence.”
Vaccine skeptics and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and U.S. President Donald Trump have promoted “the theory – contrary to scientific evidence – that childhood vaccines cause autism.” But the CDC's website previously said that “studies have shown there is no link between receiving vaccines and developing autism spectrum disorder.”
As of Wednesday evening, the agency's website said: “The claim that vaccines do not cause autism is not a valid claim because research has not ruled out the possibility that childhood vaccines cause autism.”
The agency retained the “Vaccines Don't Cause Autism” headline on its web page, saying it was not removed due to an agreement with Senator Bill Cassidy, chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
The anti-vaccine group Children's Health Defense, which Kennedy previously led, welcomed the changes to the CDC website.
“The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is beginning to acknowledge the truth about this disease that affects millions of people, rejecting the bold and long-standing lie that 'vaccines do not cause autism,'” the group said on X.
Kennedy linked vaccines to autism and sought to rewrite the country's immunization policies.
Trump has also linked autism to pregnant women taking the painkiller Tylenol, but this claim is also not supported by scientific evidence.
Autism is a neurological and developmental disorder characterized by abnormalities in brain signaling that cause people to behave, communicate, interact and learn in atypical ways.
The causes of autism are unclear, but no rigorous studies have found a link between autism and vaccines, medications, or ingredients such as thimerosal or formaldehyde.
(Reporting by Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru and Michael Erman in New Jersey; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)
