A Vaccine Skeptic Was Hired To Lead A Controversial Autism Study — And Experts Are Appalled

The vaccine skepticism of the current administration is well known at this point. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has a history of sharing misinformation about vaccines, and both Kennedy and President Donald Trump have spread the idea that vaccines are linked to autism, a notion that has been debunked time and time again.

But the fact that this idea has been disproven is not stopping the Trump administration from establishing a large-scale federal study looking at the “link” between vaccines and autism, and the Washington Post reported that David Geier, a known vaccine skeptic, has been hired to head the analysis.

Geier’s leadership role was reported to the Washington Post by anonymous federal health officials.

According to the Washington Post, Geier has touted anti-vaccine beliefs and, along with his father, has published papers, including some that are now retracted, about the “link” between vaccines and autism, which has, once again, been debunked.

Tara Smith, a professor of epidemiology, told HuffPost that she is appalled by this appointment. “The Geiers (David and his father, Mark) were among the first to publish a link between thimerosal [a vaccine ingredient] and autism,” Smith said.

“Geier has a history of publishing shoddy studies in this area. Some papers have been retracted. The Institute of Medicine examined their publications when they looked at the autism/vaccination connection and found them not to be credible,” Smith said.

“If you are going to do a study like this, which the CDC has said that they want to do, then we need to make sure that it’s done correctly and in a way that we can actually trust the results that they get from their study,” said Elisabeth Marnik, a scientist and science communicator based in Maine.

“So, choosing David Geier to analyze this data and to do this study is a very poor choice,” Marnik said, for all of the reasons mentioned above and then some.

“He’s had sanctions from Maryland for practicing medicine without a license, so there’s just so many reasons why we can’t trust anything that he could potentially put out about this potential link between vaccines and autism,” Marnik added.

Geier and HHS didn’t immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment, but experts are clearly worried about this news. Below, they share their thoughts on this appointment and what you should know.

“We have tons of data already that show that there is not an association between vaccines and autism,” Marnik said, “and this isn’t just data from the United States. We also have data from other countries as well, that again, reassures us that vaccines are not associated with autism.”

Because there is already so much data on this topic, Marnik said it’s a waste of resources to even do this study. She said that those resources could be better used on investigating things we actually don’t know.

“I just find it funny that an administration that’s so obsessed with government efficiency and saving money, so much so that they’re cutting research grants, is going to spend money relitigating something that we have already dozens upon dozens of peer-reviewed studies that have shown definitively that vaccines do not cause autism,” said Dr. Eric Burnett, an internal medicine doctor at an academic medical center in New York and a health communicator on social media.

This is a well-established point that is agreed upon by every major academic medical source, the World Health Organization and the medical academies, Burnett added.

It’s an ironic choice for another reason. Some of Geier’s research has been retracted because of a failure to disclose conflicts of interest, said Burnett, “which is also interesting because RFK Jr. said that he wants to increase transparency around vaccines, yet is going to employ someone who has been cited for not disclosing their conflicts of interest when they’ve written research studies before.”

“This isn’t only a farce scientifically, but it once again brings about harm to the autism community,” Smith said.

“Kennedy has long suggested that autism is a fate worse than death via his anti-vaccine advocacy. The Geiers have physically harmed autistic patients under their care. This is not only a waste of time and money that could be spent elsewhere, but it reinvigorates stigma against autistic individuals and invites additional fear of vaccinations,” she said.

(The Geirs treated autistic children with Lupron, a medication that’s not proven to benefit autistic people and can instead cause issues like bone damage, according to NBC News.)

“This will harm children in so many ways. I’m nauseated thinking about it,” Smith added.

The anti-vaccine bent of the current administration is evident in the selection of Geier, experts say.

“It is clear that by putting an investigator in charge of this who has a terrible record of scientific research and dubious ethics that they have already decided the outcome of this study, however it is carried out,” Smith said.

“It will not be honest work, and it will not be credible. But it will have the stamp of approval from our highest scientific agencies, setting back work on both vaccines and autism and inviting more controversy where scientifically, we have seen for many years that none is present,” Smith added.

“If Kennedy really wanted to have an honest evaluation on this aspect, he would have put reputable epidemiologists in charge,” Smith said.

Burnett also stressed that this study is a waste of time because the link between autism and vaccines has already been disproven, but he hopes that with enough pushback from the medical community, the administration will move on from Geier and find someone unbiased to lead this study.

It’s possible that in a few months time, or however long this analysis takes, the findings will say that vaccines are associated with autism — “because again, we can’t trust that [David Geier] would analyze the data in a way that is accurate, because it can be easy to skew things if you have a certain agenda that you want to push,” Marnik said.

“You can manipulate any data set to get to the conclusion you want, and that’s the part that worries us and worries me,” said Nini Munoz, a science communicator. While data scientists will be able to look at the report and find the flaws, the biased findings will further erode the public’s trust in the medical and scientific community, Munoz noted.

“And we are already seeing the consequences of dropping below necessary coverage levels with the measles vaccine, right? We have a huge outbreak. We might lose our elimination status. So it’s very concerning because that’s the goal — to erode trust in science and in the institutions,” Munoz said, “and that doesn’t bode well for anybody. Not for individuals, not for communities.”

Burnett added that it’s a shame that this study is happening at all. “Especially at a point where we need to be bolstering the public confidence in the healthcare system, stuff like this is not going to help. It’s just going to sow more doubts, more confusion,” Burnett noted.

For example, if someone is unsure about vaccinating their child, the fact that this study is even happening could sow doubt.

“They’re going to say, ‘Well, I don’t know how safe it is, because the CDC, the federal government, is doing a study seeing if the vaccines cause autism,’” Burnett said.

And when, once again, since there are already dozens of studies that show the safety of vaccines, this study is “a waste of time and a waste of money, and is going to have potential harm,” Burnett said.

If biased findings do come out, “I think we have to really warn people that if this is what happens in the future, that they should then rely on all of the data that we have that shows that vaccines are not associated with autism,” Marnik said.

And if you don’t trust data from the U.S., you can look outside of the country to places like the Public Health Agency of Canada and the National Health Service in England, which also have decades of research disproving the notion that vaccinations cause autism.

“So, when in doubt, you can also rely on some of those other official websites if we can’t rely on our own government ones,” Marnik noted.

Beyond looking at credible research, you can take control of your own health by making sure you, your children and your loved ones are up to date on your vaccinations, Marnik said.

“That way, no matter what happens in the future, they are as up to date as possible,” Marnik added.

Burnett said it’s also a good idea to lean on a trusted doctor for unbiased health information for you and your family.

“It’s a challenging time when it comes to health and medicine, especially with the information that’s circulating right now. Trying to find a trusted source and stick to it as sort of your north star because there’s going to be a lot of myths and disinformation coming out, and it’s going to be hard to navigate,” Burnett said.