Dozens of medical groups denounce CDC’s new statements on vaccines and autism

More than 60 medical organizations are speaking out to counter the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s new guidance on vaccines and autism.

The groups have come forward after the CDC revised its website to say that it’s not an “evidence-based claim” to say vaccines don’t cause autism. Going further, the CDC’s site says, “Studies supporting a link have been ignored by health authorities.”

Health & Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told The New York Times that he pushed for the change in guidance, which has alarmed and dismayed physicians at a time when vaccination rates have declined. It’s the latest step in a series of changes to vaccine policies and guidance that have angered physicians and medical societies since Kennedy took over the health department.

The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American Medical Association, and dozens of other medical groups signed onto a joint statement condemning the CDC’s guidance on its website. They said peer-reviewed studies have found no link between vaccines and autism.

“Medical researchers across the globe have spent more than 25 years thoroughly studying this claim. All have come to the same conclusion: Vaccines are not linked to autism,” the groups said.

The groups said suggestions of possible links to vaccines and autism stoke unnecessary fears in Americans, and also don’t do anything to support or improve the lives of those with autism.

Susan J. Kressly, president of the American Academy of Pediatrics, said in a statement that “more than 40 high-quality studies involving over 5.6 million people” have been conducted on vaccines and potential ties to autism since 1998.

“The conclusion is clear and unambiguous: There’s no link between vaccines and autism,” Kressly said. “Anyone repeating this harmful myth is misinformed or intentionally trying to mislead parents. We call on the CDC to stop wasting government resources to amplify false claims that sow doubt in one of the best tools we have to keep children healthy and thriving: routine immunizations.”

The Infectious Disease Society of America issued a joint statement with other groups that also faulted the CDC’s change, saying there “is no scientific rationale.”

“This change is not driven by science but by politics and will only serve to increase mistrust in science and medicine,” the groups said last week.

Dr. Tom Frieden, a former CDC director in President Barack Obama’s administration, called the CDC’s change in guidance “a dangerous and unprecedented departure from the CDC’s longstanding commitment to communicating evidence-based public health information.”

“Sowing distrust in vaccines puts the lives of American children at risk,” he wrote in a post on LinkedIn, adding, “Ignoring decades of evidence when making health recommendations not only endangers our children’s health, it also detracts from the important work of better understanding autism and supporting people with autism and their families.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, a physician and the chairman of the Senate Health Committee, pushed back against the CDC language but didn’t specifically criticize Kennedy for the revised guidance on the CDC website. During an interview Sunday with CNN’s Jake Tapper, Cassidy implored Americans to get vaccinated.

“Vaccines are safe,” Cassidy said on CNN. “As has been pointed out, it's actually not disputed. It's actually quite well proven that vaccines are not associated with autism. There's a fringe out there that thinks so, but they're quite a fringe. President Trump agrees that vaccines are safe.”

Cassidy cast a decisive vote that helped ensure Kennedy’s confirmation, but said he did so with the assurance that Kennedy wouldn’t make significant changes in vaccine policy unless grounded by science. On the Senate floor earlier this year, Cassidy said he’d been assured that under Kennedy, “CDC will not remove statements on their website, pointing out that vaccines do not cause autism.”

Kennedy, who has long raised questions and doubts about the safety of vaccines, has angered doctors and public health leaders over a series of changes in vaccine policies.

Under Kennedy, the government has said COVID-19 vaccines aren’t recommended for healthy adults. He has also canceled $500 million in mRNA vaccine projects, fired all the members of a key vaccine advisory panel, and changed COVID-19 vaccine guidance for pregnant women and kids.

Six former surgeons general, from Republican and Democratic administrations, came together and issued an op-ed warning that Kennedy’s actions “are endangering the health of the nation.” They argued that Kennedy is undermining public confidence in vaccine safety and damaging drug safety, medical research and emergency preparedness programs.

Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, said in a CNN interview that Kennedy has “weaponized the CDC and its website.” Offit called on Cassidy as the head of the Senate Health Committee and other lawmakers in Congress to push for Kennedy’s ouster.

“He keeps crossing these lines that Senator Cassidy has drawn,” Offit said. “And so Senator Cassidy could play a role here. I mean, who's going to stand up for children in this country, if not Congress, and ask President Trump to have RFK Jr. please step down from this role.”

Health systems and physicians say they have seen more vaccine hesitancy, and they’re seeing more patients repeating misinformation about vaccines. Some healthcare leaders are worried about difficult months with flu and Covid cases due to vaccine confusion.