Mass. officials rebuke ‘dangerous’ vaccine misinformation added to CDC website

Massachusetts health officials are scrubbing links to federal health data from their web pages after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention this week promoted the debunked claim that vaccines may cause autism.

Dr. Robbie Goldstein, the state commissioner of public health, said the CDC’s new assertions on vaccines are dangerous and alarming. He said the statements will confuse the public, increase vaccine hesitancy and result in the spread of preventable diseases.

“It's a terrible moment for our country when we have federal Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, putting out information that is going to directly harm children,” Goldstein told WBUR.

The CDC website was updated this week to include language questioning the safety of vaccines. It states “studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.”

In fact, vaccine scientists, pediatricians and public health officials say there is overwhelming evidence that vaccines are safe and have no link to autism. The issue has been studied for decades.

The CDC historically has been a source of reliable information on health and science for people in the medical community and the public alike. Goldstein — who formerly worked at the CDC — said that is no longer the case.

“Unfortunately, we're in a moment right now where we can't trust what's on CDC's web pages,” he said. “We can't trust what is coming out of the federal government.”

Goldstein said his staff has begun the unusual process of removing references to the CDC from state web pages, and linking to other sources of information instead.

“We're going page by page, link by link,” he said.

Massachusetts has already diverged from the federal government on vaccine policy. Earlier this year, in response to the weakening of federal COVID vaccine recommendations, Gov. Maura Healey’s administration joined a coalition of other states to issue its own guidance to the public about COVID vaccines. Healey also took steps to expand access to the shots.

The CDC falls under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which is overseen by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Before joining President Trump's administration, Kennedy made a career of promoting misinformation about vaccines.

Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon told NPR the department “has launched a comprehensive assessment of the causes of autism, including investigations on plausible biologic mechanisms and potential causal links.” He also repeated some of the new language on the CDC website.

Dr. Olivia Liao, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society, said in a statement Thursday that the proliferation of misinformation is endangering patients and eroding doctor-patient relationships.

“Clinical research and scientific evidence have demonstrated no credible link between vaccines and autism,” Liao said.

Massachusetts pediatricians are already seeing more families hesitate or choose not to vaccinate their children. The state has among the highest vaccination rates in the country, but the numbers have been slipping, according to state health officials.

The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends children receive several vaccines during their first years of life, including shots to protect against measles, whooping cough, hepatitis and polio. Dr. Susan J. Kressly, president of the group, said in a statement that anyone promoting the myth that vaccines cause autism is misinformed or trying to mislead parents.

“We call on the CDC,” she said, “to stop wasting government resources to amplify false claims that sow doubt in one of the best tools we have to keep children healthy and thriving: routine immunizations.”

Editor's note: This post has been updated to include the Department of Health and Human Services' response to NPR.