Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spent the first day of consecutive confirmation hearings, skillfully avoiding questions about his views on the vaccine. On the second day, when a prominent Republican senator claimed there was no link between vaccines and autism, Kennedy shot back saying a new study “showed the opposite.”
“I just want to follow science,” Kennedy declared.
Following science, Kennedy was a familiar understated one. Kennedy's confirmation as health secretary is guaranteed by Thursday's vote. But the Senate exchange raises questions about the type of science that Kennedy consults. It foresees how Kennedy can continue to question the vaccine if confirmed.
Scholars scavenged the research Kennedy cited at the hearing, shredded it as methodologically flawed and prejudiced. The study came from a network of vaccine skeptics who share some of Kennedy's views. This is an ecosystem that includes the authors of the study, the editors of the journal that published it, and the advocacy groups that funded it.
“Our author was pleased to be honored that RFK Jr. mentioned our work at his confirmation hearing,” Anthony Mawson, the lead author of the study, said in an email. . A Kennedy spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
Epidemiologist Dr. Mawson said he first met Kennedy at the 2017 Autism Conference. Kennedy cited Dr. Mawson's research 33 times in his 2023 book, Vax-Unvax: Let the Science ofs.
His research was rejected by several mainstream medical journals “without explanation,” Dr. Mawson said. There he sought advice from Andrew Wakefield, author of the 1998 study. It has now sparked the initial outrage over vaccines and autism. Wakefield encouraged him to submit his research to a new journal called Science, Public Health Policy and Law.
The publication is led by several notable vaccine critics, including three people who spotted the Kennedy and Washington rally in 2022 and protested the Covid vaccine order.
Kennedy, as National Health Secretary, said, “The broad power to advance positive research research, publications, or scientific data,” said Lawrence O. Gostin, a public health law expert at Georgetown University. They'll have it.” Kennedy's critics say that the public doesn't have the time or training to sort out wars that seem to integrate one study with another, and the results will result in a rapid decline in confidence in vaccines. I'm afraid of this.
“Mawson's paper symbolizes Kennedy's consistent incompetence in distinguishing junk science from reliable information,” says Dr. John P. Moore, professor of microbiology and immunology at Weil Cornell Medical College. states. It has been published in the past by the Fringe Journals.
Kennedy said he supports vaccine safety, not anti-vaccine.
“I support the measles vaccine. I support the polio vaccine,” Kennedy said on the first day of the confirmation hearing. “As an HHS secretary, I will not do anything.
Kennedy's claim that more research is needed when it comes to vaccine safety has attracted support from Republicans who say they welcome his skepticism.
Sen. Mark Wayne Mullin, a Republican of Oklahoma, said at one of Kennedy's hearings, “I don't know why my colleagues say they can't suddenly question science.” He added, “When we start to see the rise of autism, why are we not seeing everything?”
However, University of Minnesota epidemiologist Michael T. Osterholm advised both parties' management, saying Kennedy's request for additional data would be far too far when it relates to vaccines and autism. Ta. Mainstream scientists say the problem has been solved.
“It shows Newton is back and showing that the apple is falling off the tree.
Doctors who looked into how Kennedy uses scientific research say they tend to pick out specific findings from well-known researchers, as they did in their 2022 podcast.
During its appearance, he cited a study published in Journal Pediatrics in 2000, suggesting that he promoted a reduction in infectious disease deaths in the first half of the 20th century. That's true. However, Kennedy failed to note that he also reported that vaccines introduced in the late 20th century “effectively eliminated” deaths from diseases, including polio and measles.
At one of his confirmation hearings, Kennedy cited a work by renowned vaccine scientist Dr. Gregory Poland, who said that different vaccine schedules are due to the fewer antigens that require vaccine ingredients that will trigger an immune response for black people. suggested that you should follow the
Dr. Poland did not respond to requests for comment. However, he told National Public Radio that his work did not support Kennedy's claims.
Kennedy and Dr. Mawson have long been waking similar concerns about the vaccine.
Appearing before the Mississippi Legislature in 2009, Dr. Mawson called for more vaccine safety research and a “more flexible approach to vaccination requirements for school attendance.” In a 2011 lawsuit, Dr. Mawson said the testimony cost him her job as an epidemiologist at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.
In 2017, Dr. Mawson published a pilot study comparing unvaccinated children.
The study relied on a study of parents who found a higher rate of autism among children who stayed at home and vaccinated compared to unvaccinated children. The study was funded in part by Generation Rescue, a nonprofit organization linked to Jenny McCarthy, the television character that promoted the claims of vaccine-autism links.
By that time, Dr. Mawson had founded the Chalfont Research Institute, a charity run from his home in Jackson, Michigan. The Institute reported revenue of just $57 in 2021.
In 2019, we received a charitable contribution of $160,000, tax records show. The majority of that money, $150,000, comes from the National Vaccine Information Center, which includes missions that include supporting research into “vaccine-related deaths, injuries and chronic diseases.”
A study comparing “total health outcomes,” including the risk of autism in vaccinated and unvaccinated children, like Kennedy, president and co-founder of the group. I've been seeking it for a long time. When Dr. Mawson approached the group with the proposal, the center reviewed his pilot study in 2017, approved his plan, and provided $150,000 in funding.
During the exchange between Senator Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican, and doctors, Kennedy paid the money he paid for the paper he cited at the hearing.
Journals that publish research, science, public health policy, and law promote themselves as peer-reviewed. That is, the research is evaluated by anonymous, independent experts prior to publication. Dr. Mawson said his paper had been reviewed by two such experts.
Some people associated with the journal are also associated with Kennedy.
Journal editor James Lions Wyler said he was Kennedy's longtime ally in the year “fighting across 20 states” for vaccine exemptions.
“It's an honor to call him my friend,” he wrote on social media last year.
The Journal's editorial board includes the CEO and Chief Science Officer of Child Health Defense, a nonprofit organization led by Kennedy until the launch of the presidential campaign in 2023.
The board also includes members who sell products or services for those concerned about the vaccine. One editorial board member is offering a $2,350 telehealth appointment for “post-vaccine syndrome.” Another sells a $90 “spike detox” supplement for “vaccine injury syndrome.”
A study by Dr. Mawson, cited by Kennedy at the hearing, focused on the approximately 47,000 children who enrolled with Florida Decade from 1999 to 2011, and examined billing data to determine vaccination status. did.
This study found that there were very few claims records for children who were not vaccinated with autism. We concluded that vaccination is significantly associated with a high rate of neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism, especially early-born infants.
In contrast, there was no link between vaccines and autism in a large study in a respected medical journal, which includes an analysis of five studies that include more than 1.2 million children.
However, even if Dr. Mawson's research came to fruition, problems arise. The paper points out that researchers lost access to the databases they used to carry out their research. I met with Dr. Mawson to discuss this study.
Dr. Morozov also said the study had “a fundamental flaw.” This means that vaccinated children could not explain the possibility that they would have encountered the healthcare system more than children who were not vaccinated for their illnesses to be arrested by the claim data.
The study also includes factors such as the family history of autism, the gender of the child (boys have a higher rate of autism than girls), or the likelihood that the child was vaccinated outside of Florida's Medicaid system. Could not explain, associate Bertha Hidalgo said an epidemiology professor at the University of Alabama in Birmingham.
Dr. Mawson strongly defended the work, saying the study “keeps carefully document both its strengths and limitations,” claiming its critics focused solely on limitations. “Nevertheless, further research is needed to replicate the findings and unravel the relevant mechanisms.”
During a Senate hearing, Cassidy urged Kennedy to accept that the vaccine and autism debate has been resolved. He reminded Kennedy that he presented a study of 1.2 million children who found no link between them.
“I'm trying to understand it in the documentation,” Cassidy said, “Convince me that you're going to be a public health advocate.
To this end, Kennedy replied: “I'm going to be a strong advocate of science. You will show me those scientific research, and you and I can meet about it. There are also other research. I want to show you.
