{"id":5722,"date":"2025-02-12T20:20:03","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T20:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/behind-kennedys-vow-to-follow-the-science-on-vaccines\/"},"modified":"2025-02-12T20:20:03","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T20:20:03","slug":"behind-kennedys-vow-to-follow-the-science-on-vaccines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/behind-kennedys-vow-to-follow-the-science-on-vaccines\/","title":{"rendered":"Behind Kennedy\u2019s Vow to \u2018Follow the Science\u2019 on Vaccines"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spent the first day of his back-to-back confirmation hearings deftly avoiding questions about his views on vaccines. On the second day, when a prominent Republican senator insisted there was no link between vaccines and autism, Mr. Kennedy shot back that a new study \u201cshowed the opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI just want to follow the science,\u201d Mr. Kennedy declared.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Following the science has been a familiar refrain for Mr. Kennedy, whose confirmation as health secretary appears all but assured in a vote expected Thursday. But the exchange in the Senate raises questions about just what type of science Mr. Kennedy is consulting. It foreshadows how, if confirmed, Mr. Kennedy could continue to sow doubts about vaccines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Academics have pounced on <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/perma.cc\/48KV-BH4B\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">the study that Mr. Kennedy cited<\/a> during the hearing, shredding it as methodologically <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/pauloffit.substack.com\/p\/the-rfk-jr-playbook\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">faulty<\/a> and <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.factcheck.org\/2025\/01\/rfk-jr-cites-flawed-paper-claiming-link-between-vaccines-and-autism-in-hhs-confirmation-hearing\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">biased<\/a>. The study emanated from a network of vaccine skeptics who share some of Mr. Kennedy\u2019s views \u2014 an ecosystem that includes the author of the study, the editor of the journal that published it and the advocacy group that financed it.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe authors were delighted and honored that R.F.K. Jr. referred to our work in his confirmation hearing,\u201d the study\u2019s lead author, Anthony Mawson, said in an email. A spokeswoman for Mr. Kennedy did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dr. Mawson, an epidemiologist, said he first met Mr. Kennedy at an autism conference in 2017. Mr. Kennedy cites Dr. Mawson\u2019s research 33 times in his 2023 book, \u201cVax-Unvax: Let the Science Speak.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">His study was rejected \u201cwithout explanation\u201d by several mainstream medical journals, Dr. Mawson said. So he turned for advice to Andrew Wakefield, the author of the 1998 study, now retracted, that sparked the initial furor over vaccines and autism. Mr. Wakefield encouraged him to submit the study to a new journal called Science, Public Health Policy and the Law.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That publication is led by some <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/publichealthpolicyjournal.com\/editorial-board\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">notable vaccine critics<\/a>, including three who <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.globenewswire.com\/news-release\/2022\/01\/12\/2365876\/0\/en\/CHD-and-Robert-F-Kennedy-Jr-will-Join-Thousands-on-January-23-to-Defeat-the-Mandates-in-Washington-DC.html\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">headlined a Washington rally<\/a> in 2022 with Mr. Kennedy to protest Covid vaccine mandates.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">As the nation\u2019s health secretary, Mr. Kennedy \u201cwould have wide powers to advance his favored research studies, publications, or scientific data,\u201d according to Lawrence O. Gostin, a public health law expert at Georgetown University. Mr. Kennedy\u2019s critics fear that the public will have neither the time nor the training to sort through a war that seems to pit one study against another, and that the result will be a rapid decline in confidence in vaccines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe Mawson paper epitomizes Kennedy\u2019s consistent inability to distinguish junk science from reliable information,\u201d said Dr. John P. Moore, professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College, who said that study and some of the others Mr. Kennedy has cited in the past are published by \u201cfringe journals.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Kennedy has said that he is not anti-vaccine, but rather in favor of vaccine safety.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI support the measles vaccine. I support the polio vaccine,\u201d Mr. Kennedy said on the first day of his confirmation hearings. \u201cI will do nothing as H.H.S. secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Kennedy\u2019s insistence that more research is necessary when it comes to vaccine safety has drawn support from <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/30\/us\/politics\/rfk-jr-confirmation-takeaways.html\" title=\"\">some Republicans<\/a>, who say they welcome his skepticism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI don\u2019t understand why my colleagues all of sudden say we can\u2019t question science,\u201d Senator Markwayne Mullin, Republican of Oklahoma, said during one of Mr. Kennedy\u2019s hearings. He added, \u201cWhen you start looking at the rise of autism, why wouldn\u2019t we be looking at everything?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But Michael T. Osterholm, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota who has advised administrations of both parties, said Mr. Kennedy\u2019s demands for additional data go too far when they concern vaccines and autism. Mainstream scientists say the issue is settled.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThat\u2019s the equivalent of me saying until Newton comes back and shows me that apple falling from the tree, I do not believe gravity exists,\u201d Dr. Osterholm said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Doctors who have examined the way Mr. Kennedy uses scientific research say he also has a tendency to cherry-pick particular findings from prominent researchers, as he did during a <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/robert-f-kennedy-jr-exploring-some-uncomfortable-truths\/id1562929417?i=1000547092617\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">podcast in 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">During that appearance, he cited <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/sci-hub.kvnp.top\/10.1542\/peds.106.6.1307\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a study published<\/a> in the journal Pediatrics in 2000 to suggest that improvements in sanitation and hygiene \u2014 and not vaccines \u2014 fueled a drop in deaths from infectious diseases during the first half of the 20th century. That is true. But Mr. Kennedy failed to note that the study also reported that vaccines introduced in the second half of the 20th century had \u201cvirtually eliminated\u201d deaths from diseases including polio and measles.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">During one of his confirmation hearings, Mr. Kennedy cited work by a well-known vaccine scientist, Dr. Gregory Poland, to suggest Black people should follow a different vaccine schedule because they needed fewer antigens, the vaccine components that provoke an immune response.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dr. Poland did not respond to requests for comment. But he told <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/shots-health-news\/2025\/01\/30\/nx-s1-5281457\/rfk-jr-vaccines-race-confirmation-hearings\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">National Public Radio<\/a> that his work did not support Mr. Kennedy\u2019s assertion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-5\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Kennedy and Dr. Mawson have long aired similar concerns about vaccines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In an appearance before the Mississippi legislature in 2009, Dr. Mawson called for more vaccine safety research and \u201ca more flexible approach to vaccination requirements for school attendance.\u201d In <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/casetext.com\/case\/mawson-v-miss-state-dept-of-health\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a 2011 lawsuit<\/a>, Dr. Mawson said the testimony had cost him his job as an epidemiologist at the University of Mississippi Medical Center.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-6\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 2017, Dr. Mawson published <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oatext.com\/Pilot-comparative-study-on-the-health-of-vaccinated-and-unvaccinated-6-to-12-year-old-U-S-children.php\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">a pilot study<\/a> comparing vaccinated to unvaccinated children.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The study relied on a survey of parents who home-schooled their children and found higher rates of autism among vaccinated children, compared with those who had not been vaccinated. The study was funded in part by Generation Rescue, a nonprofit associated with Jenny McCarthy, a television personality who has promoted claims of a link between vaccines and autism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dr. Mawson by that time had established the Chalfont Research Institute, a charity that operates out of his home in Jackson, Miss. The institute reported revenue of just <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/projects.propublica.org\/nonprofits\/organizations\/471079598\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">$57 in 2021,<\/a> the most recent figures available.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In 2019, it received charitable contributions of $160,000, tax records show. The bulk of that money, $150,000, came from the National Vaccine Information Center, a group whose mission includes supporting research on \u201cvaccine-associated deaths, injuries and chronic illness.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-7\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Like Mr. Kennedy, the group\u2019s president and co-founder, Barbara Loe Fisher, has long called for research comparing \u201ctotal health outcomes\u201d including the risk of autism, in vaccinated and unvaccinated children. When Dr. Mawson approached her group with a proposal, she said, the center reviewed his pilot study of 2017, approved his plan and provided $150,000 in funding.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-8\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">That money paid for the paper Mr. Kennedy <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.help.senate.gov\/hearings\/nomination-of-robert-f-kennedy-jr-to-serve-as-secretary-of-health-and-human-services\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">cited at the hearing<\/a>, during an exchange with Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana and a doctor.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The journal that published the study, Science, Public Health Policy and the Law, advertises itself as peer-reviewed, meaning its research is evaluated by anonymous independent experts before publication. Dr. Mawson said his paper had undergone review by two such experts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some people associated with the journal are also associated with Mr. Kennedy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">James Lyons-Weiler, the journal\u2019s editor in chief, described himself as a longtime ally of Mr. Kennedy\u2019s in a yearslong \u201cfight across 20 states\u201d for vaccine exemptions.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-9\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cHonored to call him my friend,\u201d he <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/lifebiomedguru\/status\/1803389714923184629\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">wrote on social media<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The journal\u2019s editorial board includes the chief executive and the chief scientific officer of Children\u2019s Health Defense, the nonprofit that Mr. Kennedy led until he began his presidential campaign in 2023.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The board also includes members who sell products or services for people who are concerned about vaccines. One of its editorial board members offers <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/drpierrekory.com\/pricing\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">$2,350 telehealth appointments<\/a> for \u201c<a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/drpierrekory.com\/general-medical-care\/post-vaccine-syndrome-visit\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">post-vaccine syndrome<\/a>.\u201d Another <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.twc.health\/products\/ultimate-spike-detox?variant=49407127257304\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">sells $90 \u201cspike detox\u201d supplements<\/a> marketed for \u201cvaccine injury syndrome\u201d that is meant to get \u201cyou back to that pre-Covid feeling.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The study by Dr. Mawson that Mr. Kennedy cited at the hearing focused on about 47,000 children enrolled in Florida Medicaid from 1999 to 2011 and looked at billing data to determine their vaccination status.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The study found very few billing records for unvaccinated children with autism \u2014 eight who were born prematurely and 54 overall. It concluded that vaccination was significantly associated with higher rates of neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism, particularly in infants who were born prematurely.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-10\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">By contrast, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.autismspeaks.org\/do-vaccines-cause-autism\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">large-scale studies<\/a> in respected medical journals, including <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/abs\/pii\/S0264410X14006367?via%3Dihub\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">an analysis<\/a> of five studies involving more than 1.2 million children, have found no association between vaccines and autism.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-11\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But even as Dr. Mawson\u2019s research took shape, problems emerged. The paper notes that researchers lost access to the database they used to perform the study. Dr. Alex Morozov, an expert on clinical trial design who <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/evivapartners.org\/news-articles\/robert-f-kennedy-jr-andrew-wakefield-and-the-manufacture-of-evidence\/\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">met with Dr. Mawson<\/a> to discuss the study, said he viewed that as a red flag.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dr. Morozov also said the study had a \u201cfundamental flaw\u201d: It failed to account for the possibility that vaccinated children might have more encounters with the medical system than unvaccinated children, whose illnesses would not be captured by billing data.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The study also failed to account for factors like family history of autism, the child\u2019s gender (boys are diagnosed with higher rates of autism than girls) or the possibility that children might have been vaccinated outside the Florida Medicaid system, said Bertha Hidalgo, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dr. Mawson strongly defended the work, noting that the study \u201ccarefully documents both its strengths and limitations,\u201d but contending that critics focused only on the limitations. \u201cNevertheless,\u201d he said, \u201cfurther research is needed to replicate the findings and to unravel the mechanisms involved.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-12\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">At the Senate hearing, Mr. Cassidy pressed Mr. Kennedy to accept that the vaccines and autism debate was settled. He reminded Mr. Kennedy that he had been shown the study of 1.2 million children that found no link between the two.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI\u2019m a doc, trying to understand,\u201d Mr. Cassidy said, adding, \u201cConvince me that you will become the public health advocate, but not just churn old information so that there\u2019s never a conclusion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">To that, Mr. Kennedy replied, \u201cI\u2019m going to be an advocate for strong science. You show me those scientific studies, and you and I can meet about it. And there are other studies as well. I\u2019d love to show those to you.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<!-- ItShrt World News -->\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-6606220950177433\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"1882483372\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\r\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/02\/12\/us\/politics\/rfk-science-vaccines.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spent the first day of his back-to-back confirmation hearings deftly avoiding questions about his views on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[1087,1086,912,144,915,913,364,916,911,111,624],"class_list":["post-5722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-science","tag-bill-1957","tag-cassidy","tag-education","tag-health-and-human-services-department","tag-kennedy","tag-labor-and-pensions","tag-presidential-transition-us","tag-robert-f-jr","tag-senate-committee-on-health","tag-united-states-politics-and-government","tag-vaccination-and-immunization"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Behind Kennedy\u2019s Vow to \u2018Follow the Science\u2019 on Vaccines - World News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/site.itshrt.com\/worldnews\/behind-kennedys-vow-to-follow-the-science-on-vaccines\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Behind Kennedy\u2019s Vow to \u2018Follow the Science\u2019 on Vaccines - World News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Robert F. 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