Washington DC - Health and Human Services (HSS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was slapped down by a medical journal after he called for a study into vaccine safety to be retracted.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was shot down by a medical journal over his wacky anti-vax views. © AFP/Jim Watson
Dr. Christine Laine, the editor-in-chief of the prominent medical journal Annals of Internal Medicine, said that she will not retract a study that has recently come under fire from RFK Jr.
"I see no reason for retraction," Laine was on Monday cited as saying by Reuters, explaining that the journal will respond to criticism it has received on its website, but will not give RFK Jr.'s comments a direct response.
Earlier in August, RFK Jr. used an opinion piece in Trial Site Newsto attack a study on the safety of Aluminum-Absorbed Vaccines and called for it to be retracted.
The study, which analyzed data from more than a million Danish children, found no link between childhood vaccination and any chronic health disorders.
"This nationwide cohort study did not find evidence supporting an increased risk for autoimmune, atopic or allergic, or neurodevelopmental disorders associated with early childhood exposure to aluminum-adsorbed vaccines," it stated in its conclusion.
RFK Jr. accused the study's authors of having "meticulously designed it not to find harm," and said that they had an "intention to exclude the children at highest risk of harm."
He described the study as "so deeply flawed it functions not as science but as a deceitful propaganda stunt by the pharmaceutical industry."
The study's lead author, Anders Peter Hviid, defended the research in a statement sent to Reuters.
"I am used to controversy around vaccine safety studies - especially those that relate to autism, but I have not been targeted by a political figurehead in this way before," he said.
"I have confidence in our work and in our ability to reply to the critiques of our study."
