US Health Agency Makes Controversial Vaccine U-turn
In a startling reversal that has rocked the scientific community, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has abruptly altered its official stance on the relationship between vaccines and autism. The nation's leading public health agency, long a bastion of the scientific consensus that no such link exists, has performed a complete about-face following an update to its website on Wednesday, 20 November 2024.
A New, Contested Guidance
The updated CDC webpage now explicitly suggests a potential connection between vaccinations and autism spectrum disorder, a claim that mainstream science has repeatedly debunked. According to a report by The Washington Post, the new guidance states that "studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities." It further argues that the long-held position that 'vaccines do not cause autism' is not evidence-based, claiming that research has "not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism."
This dramatic shift is reported to have caught many officials within the CDC itself off guard and is seen as a direct reflection of the views of the new Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a long-time vaccine sceptic. The update directly contradicts the page's previous content, which had clearly stated that numerous studies had found "no link" between vaccines, their ingredients, and the development of autism.
Scientific Backlash and Political Tensions
The sudden change has prompted significant alarm among public health experts. Demetre Daskalakis, the former head of the CDC's centre for immunisations and respiratory diseases, told The Post that the move suggests the "CDC cannot currently be trusted as a scientific voice." Dr Daskalakis, who resigned this summer in protest against the agency's politicisation, condemned the "weaponization of the CDC voice by validating false claims on official websites."
The theory linking vaccines to autism was first postulated in a now-retracted 1998 paper and has been thoroughly disproven by a substantial body of subsequent research. Despite this, Andrew Nixon, an HHS spokesman, defended the website update, telling the newspaper, "We are updating the CDC’s website to reflect gold standard, evidence-based science." He did not clarify who authorised the changes or the specific rationale behind them.
The controversy underscores a deeper power struggle within the US health administration. Reports from Politico indicate that Kennedy is engaged in a conflict with FDA chief Marty Makary over vaccine policy. Furthermore, during his Senate confirmation, Kennedy had assured lawmakers, including Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, that the CDC would not remove statements affirming vaccines do not cause autism, a commitment this update appears to breach.
