On Wednesday, November 19, 2025 the CDC website made several false claims about a connection between vaccines and autism, echoing rhetoric from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has a lengthy history of disparaging vaccines and linking them to autism. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised its website to contradict the long-settled scientific conclusion that vaccines do not cause autism, shocking career scientists,
delighting anti-vaccine activists, drawing a rebuke from a key Republican senator and sparking an uproar among medical professionals and autism advocates who questioned whether the agency’s credibility is now gone. Before the Wednesday update, the CDC webpage stated that studies have shown that there is “no link” between vaccines and developing autism, and that “no links” have been found between any vaccine ingredients and the disorder, according to archived webpages. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he personally instructed the CDC to abandon its position that vaccines do not cause autism.
The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) provides an alternative source of information, as does the American Medical Association (AMA) and other medical organizations like Restored CDC or The Public Health Collaborative for health guidance. These groups are responding to recent changes on the CDC website regarding vaccine safety and offer evidence-based information through their own platforms.