Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. personally ordered the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to alter language on a webpage that said vaccines do not cause autism, he told The New York Times in an interview Thursday.
The updated CDC website now says that the statement “vaccines do not cause autism,” is “not an evidence-based claim,” a position at odds with years of scientific consensus and researchers who have investigated this issue at length. It also now says that government health authorities have ignored the link between vaccines and autism.
The secretary revealed his role in the new language during an interview with the Times. He also said that he had talked with Senate health committee chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.) about the change, and that Cassidy “disagreed with the decision.” Cassidy took to social media to say that vaccines don’t cause autism, but did not call out Kennedy by name or reference his specific actions.
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