The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has made a change to its website that is being celebrated by vaccine skeptics.
On its vaccine safety webpage on autism and vaccines, a new statement reads: “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 page adds that, “Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities” and says the Department of Health and Human Services has launched a “comprehensive assessment” to determine the cause of autism.
The revised language represents a notable shift in tone for the CDC, which for years has maintained that vaccines do not cause autism.
Children’s Health Defense, a nonprofit founded by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy and known for opposing the use of vaccines, praised the change.
"Families in the CHD community are grateful for this acknowledgement, which they have been fighting for decades," the organization said.
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But the update is drawing strong criticism from others in the medical community.
“The CDC has always been a trustworthy source of scientifically-backed information but it appears this is no longer the case,” said Alison Singer, president of the Autism Science Foundation. “Spreading this misinformation will needlessly cause fear in parents of young children who may not be aware of the mountains of data exonerating vaccines as a cause of autism and who may withhold vaccines in response to this misinformation, putting their children at risk to contract and potentially die from vaccine preventable diseases.”
Earlier this year, the American Academy of Pediatrics warned that “any effort to misrepresent decades of research that has found no link between vaccines and autism” threatens children’s health.
“Multiple studies from around the world have found no link between autism and vaccines,” AAP President Dr. Susan J. Kressly said in May. “The data underpinning these conclusions were studied by independent researchers and published in peer-reviewed journals, which have undergone rigorous scientific scrutiny.”
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A CDC report released in April found that 1 in 31 children born in 2014 were diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.
Scientists say the reasons for rising autism rates remain unclear, but much of the increase is likely due to a broader definition of the disorder and better detection. Genetics and environmental exposures may also play a role.
