Maya Goldman , Axios; CDC changes website to promote debunked vaccines-autism link
"The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated its website to promote the widely debunked claim that vaccines may cause autism.
Why it matters: Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has repeatedly linked vaccines to autism, and now the public health agency he oversees is publicly reversing its position to reflect that belief.
Multiple studies over decades have disproven links between childhood vaccines and developing autism.
State of play: The agency's webpage on vaccines and autism, updated Wednesday, now says the statement that vaccines don't cause autism "is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism."
"Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities," the website continues.
HHS in September released plans to contract with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to research connections between vaccines and autism.
Career scientists at the agency were not consulted about the changes and were caught off guard by them, the Washington Post reported.
The CDC site previously said studies showed there was no connection between receiving vaccines and developing autism."
