Robert F. Kennedy Jr., recently appointed as head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), has faced significant criticism after selecting a controversial researcher to lead a study on vaccines and autism.
Reports indicate that David Geier has been named a “senior data analyst” at HHS, tasked with exploring potential links between childhood vaccines and autism. This association has been thoroughly debunked by numerous scientific studies. Geier, listed in the HHS staff directory, operates in the office of the HHS secretary under the assistant secretary for financial resources.
Geier’s appointment has surprised vaccine experts and public health officials due to his controversial history. He lacks a medical degree and was sanctioned by the Maryland State Board of Physicians in 2011 for practicing medicine without a license. Geier and his father, Mark Geier, have published papers suggesting vaccines increase autism risk, though many have been retracted or discredited.
“It’s like hiring Andrew Wakefield,” said Dorit Reiss, a UC Law San Francisco professor studying the anti-vaccine movement, referencing the British doctor whose study falsely linking the MMR vaccine to autism was retracted.
For years, the Geiers advocated that thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative in vaccines, led to increased autism diagnoses. However, autism rates have not decreased in over 20 years since thimerosal was largely removed from U.S. vaccines.
Jessica Steier, a public health researcher with the nonprofit Science Literacy Lab, stated that the Geiers’ research contains “basic flaws” and reflects “an anti-vaccine agenda.”
The HHS study comes at a particularly sensitive time. As of late May 2025, the United States has been experiencing a significant measles outbreak, with over 1,046 confirmed cases reported across 30 states. This marks the second-highest annual case count in 25 years, following the 1,274 cases reported in 2019.
The outbreak has resulted in at least three confirmed deaths: two unvaccinated children in Texas and one adult in New Mexico. The majority of cases have occurred among unvaccinated individuals or those with unknown vaccination status.
Texas has been the most affected state, reporting 728 cases as of May 23, 2025. Other states with notable case counts include New Mexico (76 cases), Kansas (58 cases), and Oklahoma (17 cases).
Health officials attribute the resurgence of measles to declining vaccination rates, which have fallen below the 95% threshold needed for herd immunity. This decline is partly due to misinformation about vaccine safety.
Kennedy has minimized the importance of measles vaccines. During his confirmation hearings, Senator Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), a physician, urged Kennedy to reject his previous claims about vaccines and autism. Kennedy agreed to do so if shown data disproving the link, despite extensive research proving otherwise.
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 referred to a contested study, stating, “There are other studies out there. I just want to follow the science.”
The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health has highlighted evidence from 16 well-conducted, large population-based studies indicating that vaccines do not cause autism. The thimerosal theory was extensively studied, and researchers found no relationship between the preservative and autism rates.
Anonymous public health officials have reported that HHS directed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to provide vaccine safety data to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for analysis. This data includes findings from four vaccine-autism studies published in the 2000s.
When questioned about his involvement in the study, Geier responded, “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 decisions by Kennedy in his brief tenure. He recently announced plans to consolidate HHS agencies and eliminate at least 13,500 jobs. While some aspects, like refocusing the CDC toward infectious disease response, are not considered radical, appointing vaccine skeptics to key positions raises significant concerns.
Peter Marks, the FDA’s top vaccine official, resigned after Kennedy’s appointment. Marks had criticized Kennedy’s “misinformation and lies” regarding vaccines.
Public health experts are concerned that appointing a researcher with discredited claims will lead to a flawed study, undermining vaccination trust and public confidence in the CDC amid existing vaccine hesitancy.
“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, which funds autism research.
Numerous scientific organizations and researchers have voiced serious concerns about the study’s methodology and potential outcomes under Geier’s leadership. The selection is seen by some public health officials as a “tactical error” and a “worst-case scenario for public health.”
Kennedy has long questioned the scientific consensus on vaccines, despite conclusive evidence. During his Senate confirmation hearing, he avoided clearly stating that vaccines do not cause autism, requesting more data despite multiple studies showing no link.
The study is part of a broader reorganization at HHS, where Kennedy proposed consolidating agencies and cutting jobs. Senator Cassidy, who voted to confirm Kennedy after assurances about federal vaccine support, recently met with the HHS Secretary to discuss job cuts, but the vaccine-autism study was not addressed. As Kennedy continues to shape his vision for HHS, public health experts are closely monitoring how his administration’s vaccine positions will impact public health policy and vaccination rates nationwide.
