Sanders Releases CDC Emails Showing Kennedy Aides Sought 2004 Vaccine Data for Autism Probe
Updated
Updated · POLITICO · Jun 26
Sanders Releases CDC Emails Showing Kennedy Aides Sought 2004 Vaccine Data for Autism Probe
2 articles · Updated · POLITICO · Jun 26
Summary
Internal CDC emails released by Sen. Bernie Sanders show aides to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sought help investigating a measles vaccine-autism link using data from a 2004 study that found no connection.
An Aug. 19 exchange — less than 10 days before CDC chief medical officer Debra Houry resigned — shows senior adviser Stuart Burns asking that anonymized study data be shared with Daniel O’Connor on HHS' behalf.
Houry confirmed O’Connor is the founder of TrialSite News, a clinical-trial website popular with vaccine skeptics that has also published Kennedy and content aligned with his MAHA agenda.
O’Connor said he did receive the data but found it too convoluted to show a vaccine-autism link within the time and resources he had, while HHS did not immediately comment.
The disclosure adds to scrutiny over politicization at the CDC after Houry, who has since spoken out, resigned in August.