The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to hand over multiple sets of vaccine safety data to a discredited researcher with a history of spreading misinformation that vaccines cause autism, according to two sources familiar with the plan. Both learned about the matter during recent meetings at the CDC but were not authorized to speak about it publicly.<\/p>\n
David Geier, who shows up in the Department of Health and Human Services\u2019 directory as a \u201csenior data analyst,\u201d will reportedly analyze the data. Geier has repeatedly claimed that vaccines cause autism \u2014 a link that\u2019s already been fully debunked.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf this individual is involved, then it draws into immediate question the validity of any analysis that comes out of this work,\u201d said a former CDC official who was told of the plan before recently leaving the agency. Dr. Richard Besser, president of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and a former acting CDC director, called Geier a \u201cdeeply irresponsible choice\u201d to lead this effort as he has \u201cno medical degree and a long history of pushing discredited theories about vaccines and autism.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cFamilies affected by autism deserve credible research efforts that explore legitimate potential preventable causes of and treatments for autism,\u201d Besser said in a statement. \u201cThey are not helped when our tax dollars and research funds are wasted on rehashing a question that has already been answered.\u201d Geier\u2019s hiring was first reported Tuesday evening by The Washington Post. It was unclear Wednesday whether the plans had since changed. Neither HHS nor Geier responded to requests for comment.<\/p>\n
It comes as a growing measles outbreak is spreading in at least three states: Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. As of Wednesday, 377 cases had been confirmed in those states \u2014 the vast majority in unvaccinated children in Texas. It\u2019s the largest measles outbreak in the U.S. since 2019. Two people have died, including a 6-year-old girl. Measles is a highly contagious airborne disease caused by a virus that can lead to severe complications and death.<\/p>\n
Earlier this month, it was reported that the CDC would launch a new investigation looking at possible links between vaccines and autism. Instead, the Department of Health and Human Services, led by longtime anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., requested raw data from the CDC\u2019s Vaccine Safety Datalink and three other sources. The CDC is part of HHS.<\/p>\n
David Geier and his father, Maryland geneticist Dr. Mark Geier, were a pair of researchers known for their poorly designed and retracted studies using government safety data that have long-fueled widespread misinformation about vaccines. According to an account in the 2005 book \u201cEvidence of Harm,\u201d then-congressman Dave Weldon \u2014 whose nomination for CDC director was abruptly withdrawn two weeks ago \u2014 intervened to help the Geiers access the Vaccine Safety Datalink, a CDC-housed dataset containing patient health records. This raw data is available to researchers, but isn\u2019t public because of concerns over privacy, misrepresentation of data, and manpower.<\/p>\n
The Geiers claimed at an Institute of Medicine panel in 2004 that the CDC data showed vaccines were linked to autism, a claim that was refuted by scientists at the meeting and in scores of published studies since. At the same IOM meeting, a scientist explained how the Geiers\u2019 findings had failed to factor for age \u2014 children with more vaccines only appeared to have higher rates of autism because they were older and had more time to be diagnosed. (Children on average are diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder around age 5.)<\/p>\n
The Geiers conducted research from a makeshift laboratory in their carpeted wood-paneled suburban Maryland basement; published several studies, many of which were retracted; and promoted an unproven treatment for autism that cost families tens of thousands of dollars and included injections of Lupron, a drug used for prostate cancer and early puberty. In children, it\u2019s only approved for precocious puberty and comes with side effects including bone damage, heart issues, and seizures. They diagnosed kids with precocious puberty without proper tests and misled parents into thinking they were signing up for an approved autism therapy. A 2011 Maryland Board of Physicians investigation found that the Geiers violated standards of care.<\/p>\n
The appointment of David Geier, a discredited researcher with a history of spreading misinformation about vaccines and autism, to analyze vaccine safety data is deeply concerning. It not only undermines the credibility of the research but also wastes resources on rehashing a question that has already been answered. The focus should be on credible research efforts that explore legitimate potential preventable causes of and treatments for autism, rather than perpetuating debunked theories.<\/p>\n
Introduction to the Controversy The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to hand over multiple sets of vaccine safety data to a discredited researcher with a history of spreading misinformation that vaccines cause autism, according to two sources familiar with the plan. Both learned about the matter during recent meetings at the CDC […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-17467","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/media.nbcchicago.com\/2025\/03\/child-mmr-vaccine-getty.png?resize=1200%2C675&quality=85&strip=all&w=1200&resize=1200,675&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17467"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17467"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17469,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17467\/revisions\/17469"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/chicago\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}