Overview
- The CDC website now states that saying vaccines do not cause autism is not an evidence‑based claim and that studies have not ruled out a possible infant link.
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he personally directed the CDC to add the language, contradicting assurances he gave during his confirmation to preserve CDC messaging and ACIP recommendations.
- Jake Tapper told Cassidy "he lied to you" and aired the senator's February pledge that CDC would not remove statements rejecting a vaccine–autism link.
- Cassidy, a physician and chair of the Senate health panel, affirmed that vaccines are safe and not associated with autism while largely declining to criticize Kennedy by name.
- Tapper cited recent measles and pertussis deaths and referenced a New Yorker essay by Kennedy’s granddaughter to question the broader harm to vaccine confidence and public health.