WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has apparently selected a leading vaccine skeptic who has promoted false claims about immunizations to study the connection between vaccines and autism, according to news reports. David Geier, who Maryland regulators disciplined for practicing medicine without a license, is listed in the HHS staff directory as a “senior data analyst” in the Office of the HHS Secretary.
**Public Citizen Health Research Group Director Dr. Robert Steinbrook** issued the following statement:
“The purported connection between vaccines and autism has been discredited many times. Selecting a leading vaccine skeptic undermines any reason for yet another study and puts a government stamp of approval on quack science.
“If Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., another leading vaccine skeptic, was interested in a serious “gold-standard” study he would have asked the National Academy of Medicine to update its 2004 report “Immunization Safety Review: Vaccines and Autism,” by convening an expert panel with no financial or intellectual conflicts of interest.”