U.S. Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. attends a information convention, Tuesday, Aug. 5, 2025, in Anchorage, Alaska. Credit score: AP Photograph/Mark Thiessen, File
Federal well being officers intend to award a contract to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to analyze whether or not there’s a hyperlink between vaccinations and autism, in keeping with a authorities procurement discover.
The Troy, New York, engineering college is getting the no-bid contract due to its “unique ability” to hyperlink information on kids and moms, in keeping with the discover posted this week.
Officers on the Division of Well being and Human Providers didn’t instantly reply to questions concerning the discover, together with how a lot the contract is for or what precisely the researchers intend to do.
U.S. Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a number one voice within the antivaccine motion earlier than President Donald Trump chosen him to supervise federal well being companies, introduced in April a “massive testing and research effort” to find out the reason for autism by this month. He has repeatedly tried to hyperlink vaccines to the situation.
An RPI biotech engineering professor, Juergen Hahn, has used synthetic intelligence and machine studying methods to search for patterns in blood samples of youngsters with autism. Hahn “is renowned for the quality and rigor of his research,” RPI officers mentioned in an announcement acknowledging the supposed grant.
“If this project is awarded, he intends to publish the results of his work at the conclusion of the project,” the assertion added.
The Related Press left messages in search of remark from Hahn.
The discover raises many questions, mentioned Alycia Halladay, who oversees analysis actions and grants for the Autism Science Basis.
RPI just isn’t identified within the area as having any particular entry to information on this sort of query and “wouldn’t be the obvious choice,” Halladay mentioned.
It is also not clear how the contract suits into different autism analysis that the federal government could also be planning, she mentioned.
However maybe the most important query is why cash is being spent on such a research in any respect, she added.
Scientists have dominated out a hyperlink between vaccines and autism, discovering no proof of elevated charges of autism amongst those that are vaccinated in contrast with those that aren’t.
“The question has been studied for 20 years, multiple times by researchers around the world using millions of people, and there has never been a credible association found between vaccines and autism,” Halladay mentioned.
Those that have spent a long time researching autism have discovered no single trigger. Genetics play a task, and different components embrace the age of a kid’s father, the mom’s weight, and whether or not she had diabetes or was uncovered to sure chemical substances.
No matter quantity is being spent on the venture might as an alternative be going to “other important research questions,” together with research of genetics and environmental components, Halladay mentioned.
“I think that’s the most frustrating part,” she mentioned.
For months, HHS officers have been making an attempt to make use of vaccine security information compiled by the CDC to search for harms that could be tied to photographs. Kennedy has accused CDC leaders of stonewalling these efforts, however the precise impediment has been one thing else, mentioned one former federal well being official acquainted with the state of affairs, talking on situation of anonymity for worry of retaliation.
A few dozen medical analysis organizations accumulate the vaccine security information and report it to the CDC. Contracts that stretch again almost twenty years give these entities—not the CDC—management over the info, and HHS has not but been in a position to get it, the official mentioned.
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