CDC reverses vaccine/autism guidance; congresswoman charged in $5M FEMA COVID-19 funds scheme; T1D and bladder cancer – Morning Medical Update

CDC reverses autism guidance, alarming health experts

In a dramatic break from decades of evidence-based policy, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has altered its vaccine safety webpage to suggest that the claim “vaccines do not cause autism” is “not evidence based,” a move reportedly ordered by Health and Human Services (HHS) leadership under Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and made without scientific review.

Career CDC staff and former agency leaders say they were blindsided, calling the update misinformation that undermines long-standing research involving millions of children demonstrating no link between vaccines and autism. Public health experts warn the reversal will erode clinician trust in federal guidance, fuel vaccine hesitancy and destabilize the nation’s immunization system at a time when pediatric vaccination rates remain fragile. STAT News has more.

Health care firm at the center of Congresswoman’s alleged $5M FEMA fraud

A South Florida health care services company that staffed COVID-19 vaccination sites is at the center of a federal indictment charging Congresswoman Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick and associates with stealing a $5 million FEMA overpayment. Prosecutors allege the family-run firm diverted disaster-response dollars — intended to bolster vaccination infrastructure during a critical phase of the COVID-19 pandemic — into campaign contributions and personal spending.

Type 1 diabetes may be linked to bladder cancer risk

A new analysis from the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) suggests patients with type 1 diabetes may face more than a fourfold increased risk of bladder cancer once smoking is properly controlled for. The study is published in the journal Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice. That association is obscured in decades of earlier research. Investigators say lower smoking rates among people with type 1 diabetes likely masked the signal in prior datasets that lacked accurate tobacco histories.