(MENAFN) California Governor Gavin Newsom and western state leaders pushed back forcefully Tuesday against federal health authorities' controversial pivot on vaccine safety, standing firm on decades of scientific consensus.

The West Coast Health Alliance—a coalition encompassing California, Oregon, Washington, and Hawaii—issued an unequivocal declaration that "rigorous research of millions of people in multiple countries over decades provides high-quality evidence that vaccines are not linked to autism," according to a statement from Governor Newsom's office.

The confrontation follows U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s direct intervention on November 19, when he ordered the CDC to overhaul its website. The revised page removed longstanding language stating vaccines don't trigger autism, instead labeling that assertion as "not evidence-based."

Kennedy's opposition to vaccination campaigns stretches back at least two decades. In 2005, he authored what the Annenberg Public Policy Center characterized as an "error-laden story" for Rolling Stone and Salon, alleging the preservative thimerosal in vaccines caused autism.

Salon pulled the piece on January 16, 2011, citing numerous factual errors. media noted Kennedy's thimerosal hypothesis "defies logic because the MMR vaccine never contained thimerosal."

"Americans deserve public health guidance grounded in science, not opinions," Governor Newsom declared. While Kennedy pointed to research gaps as rationale for the policy shift, The New York Times reported he conceded that "extensive epidemiological research has found no connection to autism."

The federal agency's reversal triggered widespread condemnation from medical professionals. media documented that physicians and scientists described the directive as having "sparked a torrent of anger and anguish," warning Kennedy was "wrecking the credibility of an agency they've long relied on for unbiased scientific evidence."

More than 40 rigorous investigations spanning seven nations since 1998 have examined over 5.6 million individuals, media reported—every study reaching identical conclusions that vaccines don't cause autism.

The stakes extend beyond scientific debate. CDC records show measles elimination was achieved domestically in 2000 through vaccination programs. Yet as of November 18, 2025, confirmed cases reached 1,753 nationwide—the highest tally since 1992. Among documented patients, 92 percent were either unvaccinated or had unknown immunization histories.

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