By Jennifer Porter Gore, Word In Black
The current controversy erupted Wednesday, when the CDC updated its “vaccine safety” webpage. The language on the webpage was changed and now declares that “the statement ‘Vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim.”
Rather than point to new research as justification for the change, the updated page vaguely refers to previous studies it claims linked autism and vaccines and were ignored by health authorities.
In a statement, the Autism Science Foundation said it was “appalled” by the change, and blasted the CDC for a webpage that “is now filled with anti-vaccine rhetoric and outright lies about vaccines and autism.” ASF noted that multiple studies conducted by scientists in several countries have determined there is no link between childhood vaccines and autism.
Alison Singer, Autism Science Foundation president, told the Associated Press that “the facts [about autism] don’t change because the administration does.” She said Kennedy should be “willing to accept what the existing study data clearly show.”
“You can’t just ignore data because it doesn’t confirm your beliefs, but that’s what the administration is doing,” she said.
Medical Groups Warn of Rising Childhood Disease Risks
In September, RFK Jr.’s handpicked federal vaccine panel, most of whom are known anti-vaxxers, changed its guidance about the combined measles, mumps, rubella and chicken pox vaccination for children under age 4. The panel said children under 4 years should receive separate MMR and varicella vaccines and not the combined MMRV vaccine.
However, the AAP “continues to recommend giving families a choice of vaccines to protect toddlers against measles, mumps, rubella and varicella (MMRV)” despite a calling for removal of one option…”
“Vaccines used in the United States are rigorously tested and monitored for safety. There is no evidence that vaccines cause autism. This issue has been studied thoroughly for many years by experts around the world,” the state of New York’s public health department said.
“What is clear is that vaccine-preventable diseases cause serious illness, hospitalization and death. These outcomes are particularly tragic because they are preventable. As a pediatrician, public health expert, and New York State Health Commissioner, I strongly support the current childhood vaccine schedule.”
The theory that vaccines, particularly the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine, cause autism first appeared almost 30 years ago, when British physician Andrew Wakefield published a small study in The Lancet.
Wakefield claimed his research pinpointed a link between vaccines and developmental delays in children. But additional scientific investigations involving hundreds of thousands of children thoroughly debunked Wakefield’s claim.
In 2010, The Lancet fully retracted Wakefield’s paper, calling it “utterly false,” and Wakefield’s medical license was revoked. Yet despite overwhelming evidence, the false claim that vaccines cause autism continues to influence vaccine hesitancy and misinformation worldwide.
Michael T. Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, called the change to the CDC’s website “a tragic day for public health, for the U.S. government.”
“Ideology has replaced science as the means for addressing life-saving research and best practices that save lives,” he says.
Earlier this year, in response to the CDC’s changing approach to vaccines, Osterholm’s department launched its Vaccine Integrity Project.
Dr. Paul Offit, an infectious disease specialist at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, says the CDC has abandoned its role as a global leader in science and devolved into “a propaganda machine for RFK Jr.’s fixed, immutable, science-resistant theories.” said , MD,
“The CDC is being weaponized to promote RFK Jr.’s anti-vaccine point of view,” he said. “So why should you trust it?”
