The addition of anti-vaccine talking points on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website did not go unnoticed by Sen. Bill Cassidy.
“Redirecting attention to factors we definitely know DO NOT cause autism denies families the answers they deserve,” the senator, who is also a physician, posted on his X account Thursday afternoon.
“What parents need to hear right now is vaccines for measles, polio, hepatitis B and other childhood diseases are safe and effective and will not cause autism. Any statement to the contrary is wrong, irresponsible, and actively makes Americans sicker,” wrote Cassidy, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
The CDC website now claims that vaccines have not been studied well enough to say definitively whether they cause autism, something that scientists say is not the case.
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CDC’s website still includes the phrase, “Vaccines do not cause autism,” but with an asterisk: “The header ‘Vaccines do not cause autism’ has not been removed due to an agreement with the chair of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee that it would remain on the CDC website.”
When asked if the new CDC language upholds promises made to him by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Cassidy told reporters on Thursday, “Put it this way. There’s a reason there’s an asterisk on it.”
Cassidy was a reluctant vote for Kennedy’s nomination, and only agreed to vote for him after receiving assurances from Kennedy that he would not make substantial changes to the agency’s vaccine policy.
Many of the agreements Cassidy listed in a floor speech announcing his support for Kennedy, like an agreement to not change the makeup of the CDC panel that makes decisions on the childhood vaccine schedule, have already been broken.
When asked by a reporter if he felt that the asterisk was the secretary “messing with him a bit,” Cassidy declined to answer.
Cassidy also told reporters that he spoke with Kennedy on Wednesday, when the language on the website changed, but declined to provide details of their conversation.
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This story was produced as part of a partnership between NOTUS and Verite News.
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