Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has dialed back his public comments around vaccines, but behind-the-scenes, something else is underway, according to a New York Times report published on Monday.
Kennedy had a direct order to curb his critiques of vaccines and his suggestion — despite a lack of scientific evidence — that chronic disease was tied to vaccines. The Trump administration was apparently concerned that the cabinet member's talk around the topic could impact Republicans' chances of maintaining control of Congress in the upcoming midterm elections.
"But he has not abandoned his quest for evidence that they are unsafe," according to The Times.
"Working behind the scenes, Mr. Kennedy is spearheading an intense push, across health agencies under his purview, for government scientists and federal data contractors to examine his long-held theory that vaccines are helping to fuel an epidemic of chronic disease, according to multiple people familiar with the effort," The Times reported.
Kennedy reportedly still sees this probe as a top priority and calls vaccines a "potential culprit" behind several neurological and autoimmune disorders, in addition to allergies and asthma. Biostatistician and vaccine safety expert Martin Kulldorff, who was a critic of COVID-19 restrictions and vaccine mandates throughout the pandemic, has been tapped to lead the inquiry.
"It resurrects research into a number of ideas Mr. Kennedy has espoused, including whether vaccines are linked to autism and whether thimerosal, a preservative that has largely been removed from vaccines in the United States but remains in some flu shots, is dangerous," according to The Times.
The initiative between scientists at the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in conjunction with several contractors who apparently have access to millions of patient medical records, has not been made public. The Times spoke to six people who were close to the research and asked to speak under the condition of anonymity.
"The work is raising alarms among some vaccine scholars and critics of Mr. Kennedy, who have long accused the secretary of cherry-picking data and misinterpreting studies to claim that vaccines are unsafe and to limit their use," The Times reported. "They fear Mr. Kennedy will use the findings to further erode confidence in vaccines, which the World Health Organization estimates saved 154 million lives over the past half-century."