The false idea that vaccines cause autism has persisted since the late 1990s, when a since-retracted British study first made the connection, despite numerous rigorous studies that have debunked the claim. But the selection of the vaccine critic Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as U.S. health secretary has made things worse, invigorating anti-vaccine discourse and making the future of Americans’ access to vaccines uncertain. Public health experts like Jessica Steier, who specializes in science communication, are especially worried about an upcoming federal report on the causes of autism. That’s because Kennedy has brought in a fellow longtime vaccine skeptic, David Geier, as a researcher. Geier has a history of publishing, with his father, shoddy studies linking vaccines to autism. “Researchers have long called attention to the serious methodological and ethical defects in their work,” Steier writes in a guest essay for Times Opinion today. We worked with Steier to investigate the available research on vaccines and autism and to break down the anti-vaccine research playbook through a deep dive into a particularly egregious example from Geier’s work. By showing the methodological tricks anti-vaccine researchers have used, the hope is that you’ll be armed with the knowledge to see misleading science for what it is. “The cruelest irony,” Steier argues, is “that those who claim to champion people with autism are denying them real research while undermining one of public health’s greatest achievements.” Jessica Steier will be replying to comments on her essay today, Tuesday, Aug. 19, from noon to 1 p.m. E.T. Join the conversation here. Read more: Here’s what we’re focusing on today:
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