West Coast Health Alliance issues update on vaccine safety

In November, language used to describe vaccines and autism was changed on the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, saying that there is no evidence to suggest vaccines do not cause autism. Scientists and doctors have refuted for years that there is a link between vaccines and autism.

Kennedy has publicly voiced his belief that some vaccines cause autism, The Center Square previously reported.

However, Kennedy acknowledged to The New York Times that science shows there is no link between the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine and autism. Regardless of Kennedy’s about-face on the connection between the MMR vaccine and autism in children, politicians on the West Coast are pushing back on the official CDC guidance.

"Americans deserve public health guidance grounded in science - not opinions,” Newsom said in the Nov. 25 press release. “The West Coast Health Alliance will continue following the science, not chasing conspiracies and outdated thinking.”

Officials from Newsom’s office were not available to answer questions.

The West Coast Health Alliance, which was formed earlier this year in response to Kennedy’s stance on vaccines and autism, strongly recommends vaccines as a safe and effective means to protect children from contracting serious illnesses. The alliance said its members - California, Washington, Oregon and Hawaii - are “deeply concerned” with the new guidance on the CDC website. The CDC is run by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department.

“Vaccines are thoroughly tested and remain one of the most important tools for preventing infectious diseases,” the California Department of Public Health said in a Nov. 21 press release. “Public health guidance on immunization must be grounded in credible, evidence-based science to help parents and caregivers who may be receiving conflicting or inaccurate messages about immunization.”

Officials with the California Department of Public Health were not available to answer questions from The Center Square.

The Autism Science Foundation points to several different environmental and genetic factors that cause autism, including gene mutations, exposure to toxic chemicals, maternal medical conditions and the age of parents at the age of conception.

Earlier this year, the three original member states of the West Coast Health Alliance criticized Kennedy’s stance on vaccines, with the governors of California, Oregon and Washington stating each state would follow established science for public health decisions.

“Using science as our guiding star, Hawaii had the highest vaccination rate and lowest mortality rate of virtually any other state or region across the globe,” said Gov. Josh Green, who practiced medicine before his run for governor, in a September 2025 press release announcing Hawaii was joining the West Coast Health Alliance 24 hours after its launch. “As an island state, we understand how critical it is to protect our communities from preventable disease.”

Representatives from the West Coast Health Alliance were not available for comment.

Public doubts about the efficacy or safety of vaccines stemmed from a 1998 paper published in the prestigious medical journal, The Lancet, which made claims that the decades-old measles, mumps and rubella vaccine caused autism in children. The study was later retracted by The Lancet after the main author of that study, Andrew Wakefield, failed to disclose a financial conflict of interest because he was funded by lawyers who represented parents in a lawsuit against vaccine-producing companies, according to the National Library of Medicine.