Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy (La.) said that the science on vaccine efficacy should not be undermined, days after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) contradicted its longstanding position that vaccines do not cause autism.
“Anything that undermines the understanding, the correct understanding, the absolute scientifically-based understanding that vaccines are safe and that, if you don’t take them, you’re putting your child or yourself in greater danger, anything that undermines that message is a problem,” Cassidy, a physician, told host Jake Tapper on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
On Wednesday, the CDC updated a section on autism and vaccines on its website, stating that “the claim ‘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 website adds that “studies supporting a link” between the two “have been ignored by health authorities” and that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), led by Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., is conducting a “comprehensive assessment of the causes of autism, including investigations on plausible biologic mechanisms and potential causal links.”
Cassidy said Sunday that an asterisk was added to a section titled “Vaccines do not cause Autism” on the website after a conversation he had with President Trump after the changes were made, but did not go into further specifics.
According to a literature review published in August 2022, researchers found “no link” between the development of autism and vaccination against measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) and other diseases. The review concluded that public health officials should “continue to advocate and encourage vaccination.”
Despite that and similar decades-old evidence on the matter, Kennedy has long held that childhood vaccination plays a role in autism development.
But during his confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which Cassidy chairs, in January, Kennedy vowed to acknowledge the lack of a link between vaccines and autism if he was presented scientific evidence saying such.
The Louisiana Republican, while expressing concerns with Kennedy’s views on vaccines, ultimately voted to confirm him in February. Since then, HHS has cut more than $500 million in contracts for mRNA vaccine research, which Cassidy confronted Kennedy about in a September hearing.
On Sunday, Cassidy elected not to criticize the HHS secretary directly, but was clear on what the evidence says on childhood vaccination.
“The fact is, the scientific community agrees that vaccines are safe,” he noted. “Talk to your physician. Keep your family safe. Don’t be misled.”
Cassidy repeated his assertions on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday,” saying that his position on vaccinations is in line with the president’s views.
“Please be vaccinated. Discuss it with your physician. I shared that with the Secretary, but he’s got his own position,” he said.