The US Secretary of Health, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., revealed on Friday, November 21, that he instructed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to modify its website to associate vaccines with cases of autism.
Although Kennedy Jr. clarified that he does not claim that vaccines cause autism, he considers that there is not enough evidence to rule out such a link.
However, modifications made to the agency’s website present immunization and autism as closely related concepts.
The CDC, an agency under the direction of an advisor to the Secretary of Health, updated its website on Wednesday to emphasize that the claim that vaccines “do not cause autism” is not based on scientific evidence.
He also added statements such as that scientific studies “have not ruled out the possibility that childhood vaccines cause autism” and that the CDC does not associate immunization with autism “to avoid vaccine hesitancy.”
The CDC added that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is analyzing the causes of autism and investigating possible causal links to vaccines.
Kennedy Jr.’s decision is the latest in a long list of measures by the US Government to discourage vaccination.
In August, the government led by Republican Donald Trump appointed Jim O’Neill, a senior official close to Kennedy Jr., as acting director of the government agency following the dismissal of Susan Monarez, who claimed she was fired for opposing the Health Secretary’s requests.
Furthermore, the effectiveness of some vaccines has been questioned by North American officials, including President Donald Trump, who cast doubt in September on the success of vaccines against Covid-19, by demanding that pharmaceutical companies disclose their success rates.
The state of Florida, governed by Republican Ron DeSantis, announced in September plans to end mandatory vaccination, a decision that experts regretted as it could pave the way for diseases already eradicated in the country.
You will find official national information about vaccination at the following links:
– Let’s talk about vaccination (document published by the Santa Maria Local Health Unit)