The harvest of that change was an inaugural meeting of the new panel that was enveloped in a miasma of confused, uninformed debate.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The CDC\u2019s alteration of its advisory on autism and vaccines: On the left, the original webpage, stating forthrightly that \u201cthere is no link between receiving vaccines and developing ASD.\u201d On the right, the new version, casting doubt on decades of studies finding no link and placing an asterisk next to its former advisory, explaining it was retained only because of a promise made to Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.).<\/p>\n
(CDC)<\/p>\n
Kennedy appointed a proponent of the discredited claim connecting vaccines and autism to oversee a study of the purported link<\/a>. He and Trump tried to associate autism among children with their mothers having taken Tylenol during pregnancy\u2014and even associating autism with circumcision<\/a>. (There\u2019s no scientifically validated evidence for those conjectures.)<\/p>\n In April, at his first news conference since taking office, Kennedy spouted a fountain of misinformation about autism. He called it an \u201cepidemic\u201d that is \u201crunning rampant,\u201d which is untrue. He said \u201cmost cases now are severe,\u201d which is untrue. In fact the vast majority of new cases involve children without the intellectual disabilities often associated with stereotypical autistic behavior, such as sensitivities to touch and an absence of verbal skills. The prevalence of more severe cases actually has declined in recent years, according to a study from Rutgers<\/a>.<\/p>\n Kennedy consistently has cited statistics pointing to years of increased autism prevalence, as reflected in ever larger diagnoses, suggesting they point to an \u201cepidemic\u201d of autism and blaming childhood vaccines as a likely factor. <\/p>\n Yet as I\u2019ve reported<\/a>, researchers have made great strides in unearthing the causes and characteristics of autism. Among other factors, they\u2019ve identified genetic anomalies that may produce a predisposition to the condition. Scientific research has absolved vaccines as a cause. <\/p>\n Autism also has been defined ever more broadly over the years \u2014 indeed, it\u2019s seen today as a smorgasbord of conditions summed up as \u201cautism spectrum disorder. \u201c Despite all that, Kennedy continues to demonize childhood immunization. <\/p>\n The CDC\u2019s altered webpage reflects what I\u2019ve reported as Kennedy\u2019s pseudoscientific mindset<\/a>, relying on claims that have been standard fare for antivaccine activists like himself. Its assertion that \u201cstudies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism\u201d is a travesty of the scientific method. <\/p>\n Science is not well-equipped to prove a negative \u2014 as some of Kennedy\u2019s critics note, there\u2019s no proof that drinking Coca-Cola or eating pizza doesn\u2019t cause autism, either. <\/p>\n But by casting doubt on autism research, Kennedy overlooks the research that has been done on vaccines and autism \u2014 studies of more than 2 million children around the world, finding no connections whatsoever. Instead, the CDC statement misrepresents some research it does cite, asserting that \u201capproximately one in two surveyed parents of autistic children believe vaccines played a role in their child\u2019s autism, often pointing to the vaccines their child received in the first six months of life.\u201d <\/p>\n The study the CDC cites for that claim was published in 2006 and was drawn from surveys of 150 parents of children diagnosed with ASD at two private medical practices; the parents were given a six-page, self-administered survey. Only 77 parents responded. Of the respondents, 54% mentioned immunizations as a possible cause of their children\u2019s ASD, <\/p>\n The paper was \u201cjust about parents\u2019 views, not the science of autism,\u201d John Harrington, the paper\u2019s lead author, told me. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely not evidence-based in terms of whether vaccines cause autism.\u201d The study itself states that its purpose was \u201cto measure parental beliefs and not to measure their accuracy.\u201d<\/p>\n I asked Kennedy\u2019s agency to comment on this apparent misrepresentation but haven\u2019t received a response.<\/p>\n The blast radius from Kennedy\u2019s change in the CDC website is vast. The first circle of damage is the possibility that it will encourage more parents to resist immunizations for their children. We already have seen the ramifications from the vaccine hesitancy encourage by Kennedy and his fellow antivaxxers: Reported measles cases in the U.S. reached 1,753 as of Nov. 18, the largest case load since 1991. Other vaccine-preventable diseases such as whooping cough also are on the rise. <\/p>\n The next circle is the CDC\u2019s own reputation, which Kennedy has relegated to the dumpster. Once arguably the most trusted public health agency in the world, the CDC has deteriorated into an untrustworthy \u201cpropaganda machine for RFK Jr.\u2019s fixed, immutable, science-resistant theories,\u201d vaccinologist Paul Offit of Children\u2019s Hospital of Philadelphia told researchers at the University of Minnesota. \u201cThe CDC is being weaponized to promote RFK Jr.\u2019s antivaccine point of view<\/a>. So why should you trust it?\u201d<\/p>\n Among those whose reputations are shattered along with the CDC\u2019s under Kennedy\u2019s onslaught is Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), whose vote was a key to confirming him as Health and Human Services secretary. That was because Cassidy, a physician, was skeptical about Kennedy\u2019s suitability for the job, but folded his cards when Kennedy made him several promises, including that he wouldn\u2019t touch the makeup of the vaccine advisory committee. Cassidy\u2019s vote gave Kennedy the majority he needed for confirmation.<\/p>\n Kennedy has broken most of those promises. Last week\u2019s breach was the most recent. In announcing his confirmation vote, Cassidy said Kennedy pledged that \u201cthe CDC will not remove statements on their website pointing out that vaccines do not cause autism.\u201d<\/p>\n Kennedy stuck to that pledge, somewhat \u2014 but in a way that arguably intensifies the humiliation he has delivered to Cassidy since the confirmation vote. <\/p>\n The statement \u201cVaccines do not cause Autism\u201d is still on the CDC website, but it is now accompanied by an asterisk that refers to language asserting that the original statement remains posted \u201cdue to an agreement with the chair of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee [that is, Cassidy] that it would remain on the CDC website.\u201d<\/p>\n This feels like a shiv aimed at Cassidy: The website undermines the claim that vaccines don\u2019t cause autism and says the language remains only because of the promise Kennedy gave to Cassidy and no other. I asked Cassidy\u2019s office if the senator took umbrage at the insult but got no reply. <\/p>\n Sunday on CNN, however, Jake Tapper put the issue forthrightly. \u201cDr. Cassidy,\u201d he said, \u201che lied to you.\u201d<\/p>\n Cassidy dodged Tapper\u2019s implication, repeating several times that \u201cvaccines are safe\u201d and accusing Tapper of trying to stir up a \u201ctitillating\u201d fight between Republicans. As it happens, Kennedy in 2023 launched a campaign for the presidential nomination as a Democrat, the party long identified with Kennedy\u2019s family.<\/p>\n With 1,753 U.S. cases of measles reported so far this year\u2014the largest outbreak since 1992\u2014RFK Jr.\u2019s campaign against child vaccinations appears to be jeopardizing public health<\/p>\n (CDC)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n