Sen. Luján Questions HHS Secretary Kennedy on Autism Study and Contractor David Geier

Autism Study and Contractor Controversy

• 🎯 Senator Ben Ray Luján questioned Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. regarding a $50 million study investigating potential causes of autism.
• ⚠️ A key point of contention was the involvement of David Geier, who Luján stated was listed as a senior data analyst on the HHS employee directory, not just a contractor.
• ⚖️ Kennedy defended Geier, stating he is a contractor and has unique access to the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) due to a 2002 congressional order, allowing him to analyze data that others have not accessed.
• 🔬 Luján highlighted Geier's past, noting he was charged in Maryland for practicing medicine without a license, a detail Kennedy acknowledged but countered by stating the medical board was fined for acting with malice.

Vaccine Safety Datalink Access

• 🔑 Kennedy asserted that Geier is the only outsider who has accessed the VSD, a large repository for vaccine information, because Congress mandated its opening to him in 2002.
• ❓ Luján pressed whether Geier was participating in or conducting the study, to which Kennedy repeatedly denied he was conducting the study but admitted Geier was doing analysis related to it.

Study Protocols and Transparency

• 📜 Luján requested a commitment from Secretary Kennedy to share the protocols used for the autism study with Congress and the public.
• 🚫 Kennedy initially refused to commit to providing the protocols by the end of the week, stating they are already public and published with the study's notice of funding opportunities.
• 🤝 Despite initial resistance, Kennedy agreed that if the protocols are publicly available, he would help the committee obtain them, but he refused to agree to a subpoena for the documents.