CDC to issue contract to study debunked link between autism and vaccines
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Kennedy at a Senate hearing this month. Photo: Andrew Harnik/Getty Images.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention plans to contract with Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to investigate the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism, according to a notice on the federal website.
Why it matters: Several large studies have already disproven the connection. But Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has continued to promote the possibility of a link.
Zoom in: The CDC on Thursday evening posted a notice of intent to award a sole-source contract to the Troy, New York-based private university and asked for a response to the application by Sept. 26.
- The notice did not specify a time frame for the project, or the amount of the contract.
- CDC isn't asking for competitive bids, but said any responses received within 15 days of the notice from other institutions will be considered.
What they're saying: Rensselaer Polytechnic appreciates the CDC's plan to award it the grant, a spokesperson told Axios in a statement.
- Juergen Hahn, a biomedical engineer and data science expert on the faculty, has made a career studying autism risk factors and biomarkers.
- Hahn is on the scientific advisory board of the Autism Research Institute. The organization's website states it "recognizes the importance of addressing concerns about a potential link between vaccines and autism," but notes that there has been no validated or replicated study confirming a causal link between a specific vaccine and the condition.
- "He is renowned for the quality and rigor of his research. If this project is awarded, he intends to publish the results of his work at the conclusion of the project," RPI said in a statement.
The Health and Human Services Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Kennedy in April launched an effort to combine federal health data, medical records, insurance claims and readouts from wearables into what HHS calls a "real-world data platform" aimed at finding the cause of the neurodevelopmental disorder.
- He's also pledged to reveal findings of a federal report on causes of autism.
Between the lines: It's unusual for CDC to bypass a competitive bidding process and predetermine which institution it plans to offer a contract.
- "The vendor has unique ability to link children to maternal cohorts using proprietary databases and de-identified data sets, enabling advanced statistical analyses within the project's timeframe," the notice says.
The story has been updated with comment from the university.
