Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has reportedly tapped a longtime vaccine critic to work with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on a study to examine a link between vaccines and autism.
And The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board is not a fan.
David Geier, who was disciplined by Maryland regulators more than a decade ago for practicing medicine without a license, will conduct the study, per reports.
From The Wall Street Journal:
Mr. Kennedy grabbed headlines on Thursday by proposing to consolidate sundry HHS agencies and cut 20,000 jobs. The bloated department could use some shrinking. Most of his plan, such as refocusing the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on its core mission of preparing for and responding to infectious disease outbreaks, isn’t radical.
What is disturbing are news reports that Mr. Kennedy has tapped David Geier, a longtime vaccine critic, to assist with a CDC study of vaccines and autism. The White House hasn’t confirmed the reports, but HHS lists Mr. Geier in its staff directory as a “senior data analyst.”
Mr. Geier has spent decades spreading the discredited theory, embraced by Mr. Kennedy, that thimerosal in vaccines causes autism and neurological damage in children. He has published more than a dozen studies that trial lawyers have cited as evidence of vaccines’ harms, though they have been rejected by judges and the government’s special vaccine courts.
Mr. Geier has also accused the CDC of concealing vaccine safety data and claimed that better nutrition and hygiene—not vaccines—are responsible for the disappearance of deadly infectious diseases. If Mr. Kennedy truly wants an independent, impartial review of vaccine data, Mr. Geier is the wrong man for the job. The study’s results look preordained.
Kennedy recently criticized the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as an inefficient “sprawling bureaucracy.” He faulted the department’s 82,000 workers for a decline in Americans’ health.
Some 10,000 workers are expected to be laid off.
“I want to promise you now that we’re going to do more with less,” Kennedy said.
The restructuring plan caps weeks of tumult at the nation’s top health department, which has been embroiled in rumors of mass firings, the revocation of $11 billion in public health funding for cities and counties, a tepid response to a measles outbreak, and controversial remarks about vaccines from its new leader.
Overall, the department will downsize to 62,000 positions, losing nearly a quarter of its staff — 10,000 jobs through layoffs and another 10,000 workers who took early retirement and voluntary separation offers encouraged by President Donald Trump’s administration.
Public health experts, doctors, current and former HHS workers and congressional Democrats quickly panned Kennedy’s plans, warning they could have untold consequences for millions of people.
“These staff cuts endanger public health and food safety,” said Brian Ronholm, director of food policy at Consumer Reports, in a statement. “They raise serious concerns that the administration’s pledge to make Americans healthy again could become nothing more than an empty promise.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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