US CDC to award research contract on vaccines and autism
Why it matters
A single-source federal contract to re-examine vaccines and autism prevalence signals how far the administration’s research agenda has shifted, and puts a named principal investigator on the record.
WASHINGTON (Reuters), The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention intends to award the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute a contract for investigating the association between vaccines and autism prevalence, a government website showed.
Kennedy has made identifying the possible causes of autism a centerpiece of his policy agenda and promised a report that will reveal new information. The notice of award, posted to SAM.gov by the CDC Office of Acquisition Services, was for a single-source contract and can be issued without a competitive bidding process.
Juergen Hahn, an RPI professor of biomedical engineering, would be the principal investigator if the contract is awarded. Hahn’s work includes an experimental blood test that he says can detect autism in 96% of cases in children, and a 2017 paper that found statistical associations between heavy metals and autism.
Other Kennedy initiatives include a review of long-established findings about vaccine safety data at the CDC, a $50 million National Institutes of Health study on autism, and a data initiative using Medicare and Medicaid claims.
Source
ReutersRelated coverage
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