Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been overseeing the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for a brief period of six weeks. However, his decision to appoint a controversial figure to head a government study on vaccines and autism has drawn significant criticism from health experts.

Reports indicate that David Geier has been appointed as a “senior data analyst” at HHS, tasked with investigating potential connections between childhood vaccines and autism—a link that has been consistently discredited by numerous scientific studies. Geier is listed in the HHS staff directory and is reportedly operating within the office of the HHS secretary, specifically under the assistant secretary for financial resources.

The appointment has alarmed vaccine experts and public health officials due to Geier’s controversial past. Geier lacks a medical degree and was disciplined by the Maryland State Board of Physicians in 2011 for practicing medicine without a license. He and his father, Mark Geier, have published studies suggesting vaccines increase autism risk, although many of these studies have been retracted or discredited.

“It’s like hiring Andrew Wakefield,” stated Dorit Reiss, a law professor at UC Law San Francisco who examines the anti-vaccine movement, referring to the British doctor whose study falsely linking the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine to autism was retracted.

The Geiers have long advocated claims that thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative in vaccines, led to a rise in autism diagnoses. Nevertheless, autism rates have not decreased in the over 20 years since thimerosal was phased out of most vaccines in the United States.

Jessica Steier, a public health researcher leading the nonprofit Science Literacy Lab, remarked that the Geiers’ research is “riddled with basic flaws” and that they have “demonstrated patterns of an anti-vaccine agenda.”

The HHS study is occurring amid a measles outbreak spreading in Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. Last week, 377 cases were confirmed in these states, predominantly among unvaccinated children in Texas, marking the largest measles outbreak in the U.S. since 2019. Two fatalities have occurred, including a six-year-old girl.

Despite this, Kennedy has minimized the significance of measles vaccines. During his confirmation hearings, Senator Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), a physician, urged Kennedy to renounce his previous claims about vaccines and autism. Kennedy stated he would do so if presented with data disproving the link, despite existing extensive research that refutes it.

When Cassidy presented Kennedy with a 2014 meta-analysis titled “Vaccines are not associated with autism: An evidence-based meta-analysis of case-control and cohort studies,” Kennedy deflected, mentioning a disputed study and saying, “There are other studies out there. I just want to follow the science.”

The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has highlighted that there is substantial evidence from 16 well-executed, large population-based studies showing that vaccines do not cause autism. The thimerosal theory was thoroughly investigated, with researchers finding no link between the preservative and autism rates.

According to anonymous public health officials, HHS has directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to hand over vaccine safety data to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for analysis. This data reportedly includes underlying data from four vaccine-autism studies published in the 2000s.

When questioned about his involvement in the study, Geier told reporters: “I don’t have any comment to say. Talk to the secretary. He’s the person that’s in charge.”

Geier’s appointment is one of several contentious actions by Kennedy during his brief tenure. He has also proposed consolidating HHS agencies and reducing the workforce by 20,000 jobs. While some aspects of his plan, like refocusing the CDC on infectious disease outbreaks, are not deemed radical, appointing vaccine skeptics to key roles has raised substantial concerns.

Peter Marks, the FDA’s top vaccine official, has left the agency following Kennedy’s appointment. Marks had previously criticized Kennedy’s “misinformation and lies” about vaccines.

Public health experts are concerned that appointing a researcher with a history of promoting discredited claims could lead to a flawed study with significant ramifications. They fear it could undermine trust in vaccinations and further erode public confidence in the CDC at a time when vaccine hesitancy is already a major issue.

“It seems the goal of this administration is to prove that vaccines cause autism, even though they don’t,” said Alison Singer, president of the Autism Science Foundation, a nonprofit organization focused on autism research.

Numerous scientific organizations and researchers have voiced serious concerns about the methodology and potential outcomes of a study led by someone with Geier’s background. Some public health officials have characterized the selection as a “tactical error” and a “worst-case scenario for public health.”

Kennedy has consistently questioned the scientific consensus on vaccines despite overwhelming evidence. During his Senate confirmation hearing, he declined to unequivocally state that vaccines do not cause autism and instead requested more data, despite being presented with multiple studies showing no link.

The study is part of a broader reorganization at HHS, where Kennedy has proposed consolidating various agencies and eliminating thousands of jobs. Senator Cassidy, who ultimately voted to confirm Kennedy after receiving commitments about federal support for vaccines, recently met with the HHS Secretary to discuss these job cuts but stated the vaccine-autism study was not mentioned during their meeting. As Kennedy continues to implement his vision for HHS, public health experts are closely monitoring how his administration’s vaccine policies will affect public health and potentially impact vaccination rates nationwide.