The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is funding a study on the widely debunked idea that vaccines cause autism, according to a government funding notice.
While numerous large studies have disproved a connection between autism and vaccines — a cornerstone of the anti-vaccine movement — Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has continued to promote the possibility of a link.
Kennedy has promised that the federal government will release a report detailing the causes of autism later this month, though Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Marty Makary said HHS has not started writing the report.
The CDC on Thursday posted a notice of intent to award a sole source, fixed price contract to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, N.Y., to examine the “association between vaccinations and autism prevalence.” The agency did not specify the amount of the award.
Other universities and research institutes are allowed to apply for the grant within a 15-day window, but the Trump administration does not have to consider the bids.
CDC said the university “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.”
In a statement, an RPI spokesperson said the university “appreciates” the CDC’s intent to award the grant.
Juergen Hahn, director of the university’s Center for Biotechnology and Interdisciplinary Studies, is well known for autism spectrum disorder research including on risk factors for the condition.
Hahn “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,” the university told The Hill.
HHS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The study comes amid turmoil at the health agency following the Trump administration’s firing of former CDC Director Susan Monarez. Several top officials resigned later, raising concerns about the future of vaccine policy and research.
Kennedy has spent decades religiously promoting the theory that childhood vaccines have led to an increase in autism and chronic illnesses, despite studies repeatedly showing otherwise.
The debunked theory connecting the two first garnered major attention in 1998, when a paper published in a British medical journal purported to find a link between the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine and the spectrum disorder.
The study, which was based on only 12 children, was eventually retracted and author Andrew Wakefield subsequently lost his medical license. A review of his study found Wakefield violated basic research ethics rules and subjected the children in his study to needless invasive tests for which he did not have approval.
