{"id":1430,"date":"2025-11-21T18:29:23","date_gmt":"2025-11-21T19:29:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/?p=1430"},"modified":"2025-11-28T15:06:00","modified_gmt":"2025-11-28T15:06:00","slug":"what-to-know-about-the-cdcs-baseless-new-guidance-on-autism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/index.php\/2025\/11\/21\/what-to-know-about-the-cdcs-baseless-new-guidance-on-autism\/","title":{"rendered":"What To Know About the CDC\u2019s Baseless New Guidance on Autism"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The rewriting of a page on the CDC\u2019s website to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/vaccine-safety\/about\/autism.html\">assert the false claim<\/a> that vaccines may cause autism sparked a torrent of anger and anguish from doctors, scientists, and parents who say Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is wrecking the credibility of an agency they\u2019ve long relied on for unbiased scientific evidence.<\/p>\n<p>Many scientists and public health officials fear that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s website, which now baselessly claims that health authorities previously ignored evidence of a vaccine-autism link, foreshadows a larger, dangerous attack on childhood vaccination.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis isn\u2019t over,\u201d said Helen Tager-Flusberg, a professor emerita of psychology and brain science at Boston University. She noted that Kennedy hired several longtime anti-vaccine activists and researchers to review vaccine safety at the CDC. Their study is due soon, she said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey\u2019re massaging the data, and the outcome is going to be, \u2018We will show you that vaccines do cause autism,\u2019\u201d said Tager-Flusberg, who leads an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.coalitionofautismscientists.org\/\">advocacy group<\/a> of more than 320 autism scientists concerned about Kennedy\u2019s actions.<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy\u2019s handpicked vaccine advisory committee is set to meet next month to discuss whether to abandon recommendations that babies receive a dose of the hepatitis B vaccine within hours of birth and make other changes to the CDC-approved vaccination schedule. Kennedy has claimed \u2014 falsely, scientists say \u2014 that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/rfk-jr-says-peanut-allergies-may-be-tied-to-aluminum-in-vaccines-and\/\">vaccine ingredients cause conditions<\/a> like asthma and peanut allergies, in addition to autism.<\/p>\n<p>The revised CDC webpage will be used to support efforts to ditch most childhood vaccines, said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan and co-editor-in-chief of the journal Vaccine. \u201cIt will be cited as evidence, even though it\u2019s completely invented,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<h4>\n\t\tRelated Articles\t<\/h4>\n<ul>\n<li>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/kffhealthnews.org\/news\/article\/trump-autism-announcement-rfk-tylenol-pregnancy-vaccines\/\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/GettyImages-2236325369-Trump-Sept-22-2025-autism-3840.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u2018Sick to My Stomach\u2019: Trump Distorts Facts on Autism, Tylenol, and Vaccines, Scientists Say\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSep 22, 2025\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n<li>\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/kffhealthnews.org\/news\/article\/autism-vaccine-injury-compensation-program-public-health-trust\/\"><br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" data-src=\"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/RFK-Hearing-01.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tInside the High-Stakes Battle Over Vaccine Injury Compensation, Autism, and Public Trust\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOct 6, 2025\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Kennedy personally ordered the website\u2019s alteration, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/11\/21\/us\/politics\/rfk-jr-cdc-vaccines-autism-website.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&amp;referringSource=articleShare\">he told The New York Times<\/a>. The CDC\u2019s developmental disability group was not asked for input on the changes, said Abigail Tighe, executive director of the National Public Health Coalition, a group that includes current and former staffers at the CDC and HHS.<\/p>\n<p>Scientists ridiculed the site\u2019s declaration that studies \u201chave not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.\u201d While upward of 25 large studies have shown no link between vaccines and autism, it is scientifically impossible to prove a negative, said David Mandell, director of the Center for Autism Research at Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia.<\/p>\n<p>The webpage\u2019s new statement that \u201cstudies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities\u201d apparently refers to work by vaccine opponent David Geier and his father, Mark, who died in March, Mandell said. Their research has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2025\/08\/19\/opinion\/vaccines-autism-evidence.html\">been widely repudiated<\/a> and even ridiculed. David Geier is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.unmc.edu\/healthsecurity\/transmission\/2025\/04\/01\/who-is-david-geier-the-man-leading-federal-autism-vaccine-study\/\">one of the outside experts<\/a> Kennedy hired to review safety data at the CDC.<\/p>\n<p>Asked for evidence that scientists had suppressed studies showing a link, HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon pointed to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vaccinesafety.edu\/vaccine-safety-reports\/\">older reports<\/a>, some of which called for more study of a possible link. Asked for a specific study showing a link, Nixon did not respond.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Expert Reaction<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Infectious disease experts, pediatricians, and public health officials condemned the alteration of the CDC website. Although Kennedy has made no secret of his disdain for established science, the change came as a gut punch because the CDC has always dealt in unbiased scientific information, they said.<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy and his \u201cnihilistic Dark Age compatriots have transformed the CDC into an organ of anti-vaccine propaganda,\u201d said Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn the one hand, it\u2019s not surprising,\u201d said Sean O\u2019Leary, a professor of pediatrics and infectious disease at the University of Colorado. \u201cOn the other hand, it\u2019s an inflection point, where they are clearly using the CDC as an apparatus to spread lies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe CDC website has been lobotomized,\u201d Atul Gawande, an author and a surgeon at Brigham and Women\u2019s Hospital, told KFF Health News.<\/p>\n<p>CDC \u201cis now a zombie organization,\u201d said Demetre Daskalakis, former director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the CDC. The agency has lost about a third of its staff this year. Entire divisions have been gutted and its leadership fired or forced to resign.<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy has been \u201cgoing from evidence-based decision-making to decision-based evidence making,\u201d Daniel Jernigan, former director of the CDC\u2019s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases, said at a news briefing Nov. 19. With Kennedy and his team, terminology including \u201cradical transparency\u201d and \u201cgold-standard science\u201d has been \u201cturned on its head,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Cassidy Goes Quiet<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The new webpage seemed to openly taunt Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a physician who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. Cassidy cast the tie-breaking vote in committee for Kennedy\u2019s confirmation after saying he had secured an agreement that the longtime anti-vaccine activist wouldn\u2019t make significant changes to the CDC\u2019s vaccine policy once in office.<\/p>\n<p>The agreement included a promise, he said, that the CDC would not remove statements on its website stating that vaccines do not cause autism.<\/p>\n<p>The new autism page is still headed with the statement \u201cVaccines do not cause Autism,\u201d but with an asterisk linked to a notice that the phrase was retained on the site only \u201cdue to an agreement\u201d with Cassidy. The rest of the page contradicts the header.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat Kennedy has done to the CDC\u2019s website and to the American people makes Sen. Cassidy into a total and absolute fool,\u201d said Mark Rosenberg, a former CDC official and assistant surgeon general.<\/p>\n<p>On Nov. 19 at the Capitol, before the edits were made to the CDC website, Cassidy answered several unrelated questions from reporters but ended the conversation when he was asked about the possibility Kennedy\u2019s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices might recommend against a newborn dose of the hepatitis B vaccine.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI got to go in,\u201d he said, before walking into a hearing room without responding.<\/p>\n<p>Cassidy has expressed dismay about the vaccine advisory committee\u2019s actions but has avoided criticizing Kennedy directly or acknowledging that the secretary has breached commitments he made before his confirmation vote. Cassidy has said Kennedy also promised to maintain the childhood immunization schedule before being confirmed.<\/p>\n<p>The senator criticized the CDC website edits in a Nov. 20 <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SenBillCassidy\/status\/1991599014270365829?s=20\">post on X<\/a>, although he did not mention Kennedy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat parents need to hear right now is vaccines for measles, polio, hepatitis B and other childhood diseases are safe and effective and will not cause autism,\u201d he said in the post. \u201cAny statement to the contrary is wrong, irresponsible, and actively makes Americans sicker.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Leading autism research and support groups, including the Autism Science Foundation, the Autism Society of America, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/autisticadvocacy.org\/2025\/11\/kennedys-lies-endanger-public-health-and-the-disabled-community\/\">Autism Self Advocacy Network<\/a>, issued statements condemning the website.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe CDC\u2019s web page used to be about how vaccines do not cause autism. Yesterday, they changed it,\u201d ASAN said in a statement. \u201cIt says that there is some proof that vaccines might cause autism. It says that people in charge of public health have been ignoring this proof. These are lies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>What the Research Shows<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Parents often notice symptoms of autism in a child\u2019s second year, which happens to follow multiple vaccinations. \u201cThat is the natural history of autism symptoms,\u201d said Tager-Flusberg. \u201cBut in their minds, they had the perfect child who suddenly has been taken from them, and they are looking for an external reason.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>When speculation about a link between autism and the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine or vaccines containing the mercury-based preservative thimerosal surfaced around 2000, \u201cscientists didn\u2019t dismiss them out of hand,\u201d said Tager-Flusberg, who has researched autism since the 1970s. \u201cWe were shocked, and we felt the important thing to do was to figure out how to quickly investigate.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Since then, studies have clearly established that autism occurs as a result of genetics or fetal development. Although knowledge gaps persist, studies have shown that premature birth, older parents, viral infections, and the use of certain drugs during pregnancy \u2014 <a href=\"https:\/\/publichealth.jhu.edu\/2025\/the-evidence-on-tylenol-and-autism\">though not Tylenol<\/a>, evidence so far indicates \u2014 are linked to increased autism risk.<\/p>\n<p>But other than the reams of data showing the health risks of smoking, there are few examples of science more definitive than the many worldwide studies that \u201chave failed to demonstrate that vaccines cause autism,\u201d said Bruce Gellin, former director of the National Vaccine Program Office.<\/p>\n<p>The edits to the CDC website and other actions by Kennedy\u2019s HHS will shake confidence in vaccines and lead to more disease, said Jesse Goodman, a former FDA chief scientist and now a professor at Georgetown University.<\/p>\n<p>This opinion was echoed by Alison Singer, the mother of an autistic adult and a co-founder of the Autism Science Foundation. \u201cIf you\u2019re a new mom and not aware of the last 30 years of research, you might say, \u2018The government says we need to study whether vaccines cause autism. Maybe I\u2019ll wait and not vaccinate until we know,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>The CDC website misleads parents, puts children at risk, and draws resources away from promising leads, said Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia. \u201cKennedy thinks he\u2019s helping children with autism, but he\u2019s doing the opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many critics say their only hope is that cracks in President Donald Trump\u2019s governing coalition could lead to a turn away from Kennedy, whose team has reportedly tangled with some White House officials as well as Republican senators. Polling has also shown that much of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/public-opinion\/kff-tracking-poll-on-health-information-and-trust-tylenol-autism-link-and-vaccine-policies\/\">American public distrusts Kennedy<\/a> and does not consider him a health authority, and Trump\u2019s own <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/saradorn\/2025\/11\/18\/trump-approval-rating-hits-low-point-amid-epstein-controversy-latest-sign-of-gop-discontent\/\">approval rating has sunk<\/a> dramatically since he returned to the White House.<\/p>\n<p>But anti-vaccine activists applauded the revised CDC webpage. \u201cFinally, the CDC is beginning to acknowledge the truth about this condition that affects millions,\u201d Mary Holland, CEO of Children\u2019s Health Defense, the advocacy group Kennedy founded and led before entering politics, told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxnews.com\/health\/cdc-quietly-changes-vaccine-autism-stance-after-years-controversy.print\">Fox News Digital<\/a>. \u201cThe truth is there is no evidence, no science behind the claim vaccines do not cause autism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>C\u00e9line Gounder, Amanda Seitz, and Amy Maxmen contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<p \/>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/kffhealthnews.org\/about-us\">KFF Health News<\/a> is a national newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about health issues and is one of the core operating programs at KFF\u2014an independent source of health policy research, polling, and journalism. Learn more about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kff.org\/about-us\/\">KFF<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3>USE OUR CONTENT<\/h3>\n<p>This story can be republished for free (<a href=\"https:\/\/kffhealthnews.org\/news\/article\/electric-e-bike-regulation-federal-states-counties-cpsc-nhtsa-colorado-injuries\/view\/republish\/\">details<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The rewriting of a page on the CDC\u2019s website to assert the false claim that&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1432,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[15],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1430"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1430"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1435,"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1430\/revisions\/1435"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1432"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dangeladvertising.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}