Erosion of trust: CDC alters vaccine-autism messaging

An article by Liz Szabo, MA and Laine Bergeson on CIDRAP revealed that scientists are losing faith in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The most recent incident causing this is the CDC changing the statement on their website regarding vaccines and autism. According to CIDRAP, the CDC website said until November 19, “Studies have shown that there is no link between receiving vaccines and developing autism spectrum disorder (ASD). No links have been found between any vaccine ingredients and ASD.”

Now, it says “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.” Szabo and Bergeson say this reflects Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s views, and not scientific evidence. A number of doctors and healthcare advocates say this makes the CDC no longer trustworthy. They expressed concern to CIDRAP that children will go unvaccinated due to this and preventable diseases will reemerge.

The public is also losing faith in the CDC, according to a KFF investigation. Among the results, KFF found that the public’s confidence in the CDC has dropped to “its lowest level since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.” This investigation was conducted in October, before the CDC changed their website.