This Isn’t Checkmate
Reflections from the morning after RFK’s CDC changed its vaccine-autism webpage
Last night, the CDC overhauled its “Autism and Vaccines” webpage. Where it once clearly stated that vaccines do not cause autism, it now says that claiming vaccines don’t cause autism “is not an evidence-based claim because studies have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.”
CDC time of death: November 19th, around 9:30pm EST.
This is political chess. And last night, they cornered our king.
My phone lit up like a Christmas tree. I took to social media to acknowledge what everyone was feeling—that the public health world is, in fact, on fire. I keep working through the implications in my mind, over and over. What happens to the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program? Could parents sue if their child happens to receive an autism diagnosis after vaccination? Will vaccine manufacturers continue producing vaccines with such elevated liability costs? And what does this do to vaccine confidence—the trust we’ve spent decades building? I tried to offer flight coordinates mid-tailspin, but every scenario leads somewhere darker.
I’m writing this the morning after. I barely slept. The bags under my eyes tell the story.
We had a Substack piece planned for today on alpha-gal syndrome. But it felt inappropriate to post about anything else—like there’d been a death and we needed time to mourn. We’ve delayed it until tomorrow.
The world keeps turning though, and we had a podcast recording scheduled with Dr. Chad Costley first thing this morning—a brilliant physician-scientist who, alongside a team at the University of Maryland, is developing an intranasal H5N1 vaccine. Their Phase I trial results just published in Nature Communications show promising broad immune responses across multiple bird flu strains. (We will share more about this soon!)
My voice cracked at the beginning of the episode when I gave my public health update and shared what happened with the CDC website. It felt like delivering a eulogy.
We talked about the science. The work continued. Somehow, the world keeps turning.
Then we got to the closing question—the one we ask at the end of every episode: What is something giving you hope in the public health and science world right now?
Dr. Costley talked about a vaccine congress he recently attended in Europe. He described the incredible research underway. Breakthroughs in intranasal adjuvants that could be game-changers for how we deliver vaccines. The promise of universal vaccines that could protect against multiple strains, even as viruses mutate. Technologies being developed across continents, in labs where scientists are solving problems we didn’t even know how to ask five years ago. Work that will save countless lives.
And I wept. I couldn’t hold it back.
It feels like that scene in Lord of the Rings—the one where the fellowship stands ready, facing down an army of orcs charging from the darkness. You’re vastly outnumbered. You know what’s coming. But you hold your ground anyway and fight to the death. (And, spoiler alert, ultimately– you prevail.)
I thought about the messages we receive from people who say they feel discouraged about entering public health, medicine, or science now given the current state of affairs.
My answer is always the same: we need you now more than ever. Please don’t give up.
Just because our federal public health system has crumbled doesn’t mean public health science and scientists have. We still have incredible, trusted sources—and I hope you’ll include Unbiased Science among them. Organizations like HealthyChildren.org (from AAP), ACOG, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, CIDRAP, and so many others. We’ll be sharing more soon.
I would also argue that much of this battle is playing out on social media. A group of us is working on a list of evidence-based social media accounts that we will share. Stay tuned.
They may have cornered our king, but this isn’t checkmate. That doesn’t mean the position isn’t dire. There are brutal battles ahead—fights we weren’t prepared to have, losses we’ll feel deeply. But we’re still in the game. ONWARDS!
P.S. We have written a ton of content on how and why we are very confident that vaccines do not cause autism. You can search our database at uspodsources.com for social media posts, or our Substack for long-form content, but here are a few:
Instagram:
Substack
How a government autism study could destroy vaccine access in America
Beyond the “Epidemic” Headlines: What the 1-in-31 Autism Rate Really Means
One Week Later: Reflecting on “The Playbook Used to ‘Prove’ Vaccines Cause Autism”
Dying on Bradford’s Hill: The Anti-Vaccine Movement’s Favorite Epidemiology Trick
Anti-Vaccine Mad Libs: The McCullough Foundation’s “Landmark” Report
Don’t Be Foiled by RFK Jr.’s Rebuttal of the Danish Aluminum Study
Anatomy of a Failure: Why This Latest Vaccine-Autism Paper is Dead Wrong
Stay Curious,
Unbiased Science
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I became an RN 19 days ago and I am committed to upholding my community. We're gonna get through this.
The queen is always more powerful than the king. The US isn’t the only game in town.