The Senate’s health committee on Thursday pushed back a vote to advance two top health care nominations to the Senate floor but indicated that one, the pick to lead the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), would win the necessary votes after some assurances by the Trump administration — including a change to the CDC’s website on vaccines and autism.

CDC Website Change

In a statement Thursday, Sen. Bill Cassidy, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said the agency “needs someone who understands that the way to prevent vaccine-preventable diseases is to reassure the public that vaccines are safe and effective.”

After speaking with CDC nominee Dr. Erica Schwartz again and reviewing the transcript of her hearing, Cassidy said, he’s confident “she knows what she is doing and will stand against those who don’t.”

As a sign of good faith, [the US Department of Health and Human Services] modified the CDC’s autism and vaccines webpage,” Cassidy said. “There is more to do to repair the damage that has been done to the U.S. public health response, but this is a start.”

Committee Delays Vote

Cassidy had previously voted to confirm HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after the nominee assured him, as Cassidy said, that “CDC will not remove statements on their website pointing out that vaccines do not cause autism.”

The CDC did not remove that language but in November added a sentence: “Vaccines do not cause autism is not an evidence-based claim.”

As of Thursday, the website reads, “Scientists have not identified the root causes of autism. HHS continues to support rigorous scientific research and will update this page as reliable new evidence becomes available.”

Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.