Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has instructed Children's Health Defense, an organization he founded, to remove a web page designed to look like the CDC's site and written to suggest vaccines might cause autism. The Health and Human Services Department issued a statement saying Kennedy had ordered that "a formal demand" be sent to the organization, and the page was taken down on Saturday evening, the New York Times reports. "At HHS we are dedicated to restoring our agencies to their tradition of upholding gold-standard, evidence-based science," the statement said.
The layout, typefaces, and familiar blue CDC logo on the page appeared to be the same as those on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's site, which could be a breach of federal copyright law. The page included citations to research supporting a link between vaccines and autism and research debunking the theory. It also had links to videos of parents saying they believe vaccines harmed their children, per the Times. "It's a mixture of things that are legitimately peer-reviewed and things that are bogus," said Dr. Bruce Gellin, who led the HHS vaccine program under Democratic administrations, adding, "The footnotes give you the impression that it's legitimate scientific work." Kennedy has said he ended his ties to Children's Health Defense when he began his presidential campaign in 2023. (More Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stories.)
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