NEW DELHI — The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has drawn criticism from medical experts after quietly updating its website in language that appears to suggest a possible link between childhood vaccines and autism — a position sharply at odds with decades of scientific evidence.
The shift comes amid broader changes in public health messaging under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an outspoken vaccine critic whose views are backed by President Donald Trump. The CDC’s updated webpage says the claim that “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 page also asserts that studies supporting a link “have been ignored by health authorities” and says HHS is conducting a “comprehensive assessment of the causes of autism.”
Previously, the CDC’s website stated unequivocally: “No links have been found between any vaccine ingredients and ASD.”
Medical experts swiftly rejected the new framing. Dr. Rajeev Jayadevan of the Indian Medical Association in Kochi told IANS that scientific evidence remains overwhelming that vaccines do not increase the risk of autism. He cited a major Danish study tracking over 650,000 children, which found no association between the MMR vaccine and autism. “The adjusted hazard ratio was 0.93, with a 95 percent confidence interval of 0.85–1.02, basically showing that vaccinated and unvaccinated children had identical autism rates — even in high-risk groups,” he said.
Jayadevan noted that the modern anti-vaccine movement traces back to a 1998 paper in The Lancet by Andrew Wakefield, later exposed as fraudulent and fully retracted. “The myth had already taken hold. And once a belief settles into public consciousness, disproving it becomes extraordinarily difficult,” he said. “Despite lack of scientific evidence, several people around the world continue to believe that vaccines cause autism, including some in positions of responsibility.”
Dr. Shefali Gulati, a pediatric neurologist at AIIMS, echoed that conclusion, reaffirming that extensive global research has found no causal link between vaccines — including MMR and thimerosal-containing vaccines — and autism. “While a few isolated studies have reported weak associations, none have demonstrated any causal relationship, and the highest-quality evidence overwhelmingly refutes a connection,” she said.
Gulati warned that the persistence of the debunked autism–vaccine myth continues to fuel vaccine hesitancy, contributing to the resurgence of preventable diseases such as measles. She added that revisiting long-settled scientific questions also diverts essential resources away from strengthening immunization programs and supporting early developmental interventions. (Source: IANS)
