CDC Adopts Unscientific Bias on Vaccines Under Pressure from White House Denialists

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the United States' premier data-driven public health organization, has altered its vaccine information to align with the unscientific views of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The CDC's online portal revised its language on Wednesday, now stating, “the claim that vaccines do not cause autism is not an evidence-based claim, because studies have not ruled out the possibility that childhood vaccines cause autism.”

This change signifies an alignment with the denialist stance of the Trump Administration's Health Secretary, who for years has repeated the debunked falsehood that childhood vaccines cause autism—a claim refuted by decades of research from the scientific community.

Until now, the CDC website stated, “studies show that there is no relationship between receiving vaccines and developing autism spectrum disorder.”

As recently as last September, a statement from the institution noted there is “a strong, extensive body of evidence showing that childhood vaccines do not cause autism,” adding that “high-quality studies from many countries have all reached the same conclusion.”

Scientific Consensus and Internal Backlash

The U.S.-based Autism Science Foundation has stated there is no relationship between autism and vaccines.

“This has been confirmed through dozens of scientific studies that have looked at different types of vaccines and different vaccination schedules,” the organization adds, emphasizing: “Protect your children by getting them vaccinated and following the vaccination schedule recommended by their pediatrician. Vaccines do not cause autism.”

Following the modification on the CDC website, Demetre Daskalakis, who resigned at the end of August as director of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, called the move a “national disgrace” in a social media post.

Daskalakis, who resigned for ethical reasons and disagreements with the direction of the Health Secretary and his team, stated in that same post on Wednesday that “the weaponization of the CDC voice is getting worse. This is a public health emergency.”

“That distortion of science under the CDC's name is the reason why I and my colleagues resigned,” he told the press.

Global Health Organizations Reaffirm Vaccine Safety

The World Health Organization (WHO), scientific groups, and other health agencies worldwide have reiterated that evidence demonstrates vaccines do not cause autism.

In a publication this past summer, the WHO stressed the importance of vaccines, underscoring that they save millions of lives on the planet each year and “enable people, families, communities, economies, and countries to thrive.”

According to the WHO, although global vaccination coverage increased in 2024, *“more than 30 million boys and girls remain unprotected. As a result, the number of countries experiencing disruptive, large-scale outbreaks is increasing.”*

The publication warned that “the deficit in national and global financing, growing instability worldwide, and increasing vaccine misinformation threaten to further slow or even reverse progress.”

A Pattern of Political Interference

Since vaccine-skeptic Kennedy Jr. and U.S. President Donald Trump assumed their offices, the CDC has been shifting its stance and announced it would re-examine the data.

With the vaccine information change announced Wednesday, the institution is adopting the vision of the Health Secretary, who in August fired CDC Director Susan Monarez over disagreements on vaccine policy.

Monarez testified before the Senate in September that she was fired for “defending scientific integrity” and rejecting demands from the Health Secretary to approve vaccination recommendations from his advisors.

Kennedy Jr. had fired all members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices in June, citing “conflicts of interest,” and replaced them with new members, many of whom are known for their criticism of vaccination programs.

Kennedy Jr. founded the organization Children’s Health Defense in 2007, which members of the scientific community have labeled a dangerous source of vaccine misinformation.

One of its most persistent claims is precisely that there is a connection between autism and vaccines.

In 2021, he was the executive producer of Vaxxed II: The People’s Truth, the sequel to the documentary Vaxxed, directed by former doctor Andrew Wakefield and known for initiating the anti-vaccine movement in the United States.