E&C Democrats Investigate HHS Hiring of Anti-Science Conspiracy Theorist David Geier

Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ), Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Diana DeGette (D-CO), and Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Yvette D. Clarke (D-NY) wrote to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Acting Director Dr. Susan Monarez demanding answers about their recent appointment of conspiracy theorist David Geier to spend taxpayer dollars studying the already discredited connection between vaccines and autism.

“We write to express our urgent concern with the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS’s)reported selection of a biased and discredited individual, Mr. David Geier, to lead a large, redundant, wasteful study retreading settled science on links between vaccines and autism spectrum disorder (ASD),” Pallone, DeGette, and Clarke wrote. “Mr. Geier has been a central figure in a decades-long campaign of pushing falsehoods about vaccine safety, including a retracted study on the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR). Mr. Geier’s documented lapses in judgment, ethics, and expertise degrades the American people’s trust in reliable, science-based information to protect their public health.”

The Democratic leaders blasted Geier’s lack of qualifications to conduct health research. “Mr. Geier’s selection is particularly shocking considering his troubling history of misrepresenting his medical credentials—or, more pointedly, lack thereof,” the three Democratic Committee leaders continued in their letter. “Mr. Geier is patently unqualified to conduct research on vaccines. He did not go to medical school and has no other medical training. Courts have called his claims about vaccines and autism ‘worthless’ and have dismissed him as ‘not qualified to serve as a consultant’ on medical issues pertaining to routine vaccine injury claims.”

Mr. Geier’s work has drawn criticism and rejection from across the legal, scientific, and Autism advocacy communities. The Maryland State Board of Physicians found Mr. Geier liable in 2012 for practicing medicine at his father’s clinic without a license, which was later affirmed by the Circuit Court for Montgomery County and upheld by the Maryland Court of Special Appeals.

One of his studies published in the Science and Engineering Ethics was later retracted due to “mistakes of various types that raise concerns about the validity of the conclusion” and his failure to meaningfully disclose conflicts of interest related to his role in vaccine-related litigation. The Autistic Self Advocacy Network, a coalition of advocates run by and for autistic people, also shared that Mr. Geier’s appointment represents a “move towards conspiracy theories and junk science [that] puts all our lives at risk.”  

The three Committee leaders demanded answers about HHS’s hiring of David Geier by April 24, asking:

• What is the scope and methodology of the proposed study Mr. Geier will be overseeing?
• Which HHS leaders, operating divisions, and contracting entities are involved in carrying out this study?
• How, if at all, did HHS consider courts’ repeated findings that Mr. Geier’s research is unfounded in selecting him to lead this study?
• Will Mr. Geier’s study be subject to peer review? If so, who will be conducting the review?
• What is Mr. Geier’s budget to carry out this study? Where are these dollars being allocated from?

Full text of the letter is available HERE.

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