The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has updated its website to state that there could be a link between autism and vaccines.
The decision to now publicly state a correlation between autism and vaccines undermines the CDC’s longtime position of the contrary. The alleged connection between vaccines and autism has long been debunked by a large body of high-quality research. US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Robert F Kennedy (RFK) Jr, however, has long promoted the claim and instigated research into proving the link.
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“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 CDC’s website now states, as per a 20 November update.
“However, this statement has historically been disseminated by the CDC and other federal health agencies within HHS to prevent vaccine hesitancy,” the website adds.
The CDC said it will update its page with the findings from a comprehensive assessment undertaken by the HHS on the causes of autism.
The website’s title reads “Vaccines do not cause Autism”, which has been placed there as per an agreement with Senator Bill Cassidy to secure RFK Jr’s confirmation. However, this statement is directly undermined by the bullet points that precede it.
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By GlobalDataIn a LinkedIn post on 20 November, Cassidy wrote: “I’m a doctor who has seen people die from vaccine-preventable diseases. What 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. Any statement to the contrary is wrong, irresponsible, and actively makes Americans sicker.”
I’m a doctor who has seen people die from vaccine-preventable diseases. What 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. Any statement to the contrary is wrong,…
— U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (@SenBillCassidy) November 20, 2025
The wider psychiatric, infectious disease, and autism communities also condemned the CDC’s stance.
The American Public Health Association (APHA) said it is “alarmed that the CDC is promoting the outdated, disproven idea that vaccines cause autism”.
“Today, our organisations reject this latest attempt to create fear around routine childhood immunisations. Vaccines rank among our greatest medical success stories,” the association added.
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) said in a statement: “Decades of rigorous and scientifically sound research have proven that vaccines do not cause autism. CDC’s sudden decision to change language on its website, reversing that finding, is reckless and harmful.
“This change is deeply troubling because it is false and lacks transparency. There is no scientific rationale for CDC to change its long-standing assertion that there is no link between vaccines and autism. This change is not driven by science but by politics and will only serve to increase mistrust in science and medicine.”
In July 2025, the IDSA was one of a swathe of organisations to sue RFK Jr and the HHS over changes made to the national immunisation schedule and CDC’s vaccine panel of experts.
The Autism Science Foundation’s president Alison Singer said: “The facts don’t change because the administration does. At this point, it’s not about doing more studies; it’s about being 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.”
