Multiple CDC officials familiar with the situation said the change was made by political appointees without input from relevant agency staffers.

A page of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website was changed to include a false claim about autism and vaccines.

Multiple CDC officials familiar with the situation said the change was made by political appointees inside the Department of Health and Human Services without input from relevant agency staffers.

The page about vaccines and autism formerly said that “no links have been found between any vaccine ingredients and Autism spectrum disorder.” The website has now been changed to say, “‘Vaccines do not cause autism’ is not an evidence-based claim” — a statement the Autism Science Foundation calls “misinformation” that “actually contradicts the best available science.” The CDC page also falsely claims that studies supporting a link between vaccines and autism have “been ignored by health authorities.”

  • reddig33@lemmy.worldEnglish
    351·
    9 hours ago

    You may not be aware, but cbs news is now run by right wing weirdos. While this story might be factual, you might consider linking to another source next time.

    • Snot Flickerman@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
      35·
      8 hours ago

      Fair take but to also be fair the US is quickly running out of news sources not run by right wing yahoo billionaires.

      It’s not like Jacobin, Mother Jones, or even 404 Media can cover everything. PBS has been struggling with Federal government funding cuts meaning they have fewer staff and resources to cover everything, as well. PBS has also had its own share of conservatives running the operations through the years, it isn’t like they’ve always been perfectly neutral either.

      If a major news network with a right wing slant is the only place a story can be found, what then? Pretend like it isn’t happening?

    • dan@upvote.au
      72·
      9 hours ago

      Has this had an impact on their reporting, though? I think it’s okay to use CBS as a source as long as the reporting is still reliable.

  • DandomRude@lemmy.worldEnglish
    11·
    8 hours ago

    I recently spoke with some old friends, all of whom are senior physicians or chief physicians in Germany, Switzerland, and Spain, about the CDC. They all agreed: the CDC can no longer be taken seriously; it no longer exists as an important scientific institution. This is a loss for medicine worldwide, but especially for the US. They also said that this is directly costing human lives, many lives.

    • thingAmaBob@lemmy.world
      2·
      2 hours ago

      And it fucking sucks. I’ve been getting my resources from non USA government sites or my state health board (since that information is still reliable).

    • Ganbat@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
      15·
      9 hours ago

      Haven’t you heard? Everything causes autism now! Drank pineapple juice? Believe it or not, autism. Couldn’t get two Lego pieces apart as a child? Straight to autism.