Prominent medical journals reject RFK’s appeal to withdraw vaccine research

A well-known medical journal has rejected a call from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to withdraw a study that found that aluminum in the vaccine poses no health risks to children.

The study, published in the internal medical journal in mid-July, assessed the safety of aluminum used in pediatric vaccines by analyzing vaccinations and other health records from more than 1.2 million children in Denmark.

Aluminum is used as an “adjuvant” for some vaccines. In other words, it is a useful ingredient in stimulating a person’s immune response. Although adjuvants have been in use for more than 80 years and are considered safe, “concerns about potential harm continue to resurface,” the study author wrote.

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The researchers concluded there was no association between aluminium exposure from infant vaccines and 50 conditions, including allergies and autism. Kennedy and the organisation he previously chaired are conditions caused by the vaccine aluminum.

In an opinion article published this month on the website Trialsite News, Kennedy attacked the research, urging the journal to withdraw it, calling it “badly designed,” and accusing the study authors of manipulating the data.

Now, in an exclusive report from Reuters, the journal’s editor-in-chief Christine Lane said there was “no reason for the withdrawal.” She added that Kennedy’s argument “don’t negate what they find, and there is no evidence of scientific misconduct.”

In their report, the authors point to potential limitations of conventional research in peer-reviewed studies. However, the strengths of the paper, especially the size and quality of the dataset, gives us strong confidence in the results, Reuters reported.

Despite the established safety records of aluminum adjuvants, as Kennedy once called, anti-vaccine activists have been chasing the ingredients because they are “very neurotoxic.” Aluminum is toxic at very high doses, but the amounts found in vaccines are well below these thresholds. In fact, infants usually consume more aluminum in their food than in vaccines.

Related: “These decisions were totally reckless”: mRNA vaccine funding cuts will make America more vulnerable to the pandemic

“I’m used to vaccine safety research, particularly those related to autism, but I’ve never been targeted by this political figure,” Anders Hviid, a professor at Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, told Reuters in an email.

Lane said the journal does not plan to directly address the Health Secretary. However, HVIID rebutted many of Kennedy’s important debates in his own opinion, also featured in the Trial Site News.

In response to Kennedy’s claim that the study is “opaque” because researchers did not make raw data available, HVIID explained that it is illegal to do so in Denmark. Data that may reveal information about individual health is protected by EU privacy laws. He also pointed out some of the de facto mistakes Kennedy made, including claims that HVIID is biased because he doesn’t work because he works for a company that is developing a vaccine.

This is not the first time Kennedy has assaulted people against his vaccine stance. In June he removed all 17 sit-ins at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, replacing them with new members known to undermine scientific evidence regarding vaccines.

Kennedy has asked the new panel to check for a vaccine containing aluminum, according to a Bloomberg News report published this summer. Such reviews can affect at least 20 vaccines used in the US, many of which are part of everyday childhood vaccinations.