A fake US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) vaccine safety site was taken down on Saturday evening after a watchdog raised concerns about its authenticity. The site, realcdc.org, was nearly identical to the official CDC website but contained misinformation about vaccines and autism.
The site’s URL redirected to chdstaging.org, a domain hosted by Children’s Health Defense (CHD), an organization led by former HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. until he launched his presidential bid in 2023. The fake site used CDC logos, social media links, and font styles to mimic the real website.
Concerns about the site were raised after a report from E. Rosalie Li, founder of InfoEpi Lab on Substack, who discovered it was staged. When contacted by the New York Times, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered the site’s removal, likely due to public pressure and increased scrutiny over his organization’s activities. The incident highlights the risks of misinformation spread through fake websites and the importance of fact-checking online content.
Source: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/anti-science/fake-cdc-vaccine-site-linked-anti-vax-nonprofit-once-headed-rfk