CDC Picks Thimerosal Researcher for Vaccines, Autism Study
- by Marco Cáceres and Barbara Loe Fisher
- Published
- Vaccines
On Mar. 7, 2025, the Associated Press and other media sources reported that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is planning to conduct a study to determine possible links between vaccines and autism. In a prepared statement, the DHHS vaccine policymaking agency said that the “CDC will leave no stone unturned in its mission to figure out what exactly is happening. The American people expect high quality research and transparency and that is what CDC is delivering.”1 2 3 4 5
Study Will Use Data from the Vaccine Safety Datalink
CDC officials will use data from the Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD), which is a database established by CDC in 1990. The VSD is maintained by the CDC’s Immunization Safety Office in collaboration with HMOs and health care organizations across the United States.5 6 7 8
The VSD, which was designed to monitor and investigate rare and serious vaccine adverse events based on evaluating patient medical records, uses electronic health record (EHR) data from 12 member sites in California, Colorado, Indiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin. The sites are operated by Acumen Healthcare, Denver Health, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Institute, HealthPartners Institute, Indiana University, Kaiser Permanente, Marshfield Clinic Research Institute, and OCHIN.8
According to radiologist Nicole Saphier, MD, “Historically, the agency has maintained that no such connection exists, citing robust but outdated studies.” But she noted that there remains “persistent skepticism” by many Americans about the quality of vaccine safety studies and said that the decision to proceed with a study into the reported relationship between vaccines and autism “could signal an effort to address” these concerns.” It represents a “notable shift, likely spurred by ongoing public debate and pressure for transparency,” Dr. Saphier said.2
Researcher Investigating Thimerosal Toxicity Selected for Autism Study
On Mar. 25, The Washington Post reported that Thimerosal researcher David Geier, who is not a government employee, to be the “senior data analyst” for the VSD study into autism and vaccines and lead the investigation. Geier is primarily known for co-authorship with his father Mark Geier, MD, of multiple published peer-reviewed studies assessing the toxicity of the mercury-based preservative
Thimerosal (also known as Merthiolate) in inactivated bacterial and viral childhood vaccines such as DPT, DTaP, DT, hepatitis B and HIB. Thimerosal has never been an ingredient in live attenuated viral vaccines such as oral polio (OPV), measles, mumps and rubella (MMR), chickenpox and rotavirus vaccines.8According to CDC officials, Thimerosal was included as a vaccine ingredient in inactivated vaccines from the 1930s until about 2001, although federal health. Officials strongly deny that Thimerosal causes autism. Thimerosal is still an ingredient in some inactivated seasonal influenza vaccines in multi-dose vials and, according to some vaccine safety critics, Thimerosal is also included in trace amounts in single dose vials of other inactivated childhood vaccines despite federal health officials insistence that the mercury preservative has been completely removed.9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
Following a directive in the FDA Modernization Act of 1997 to assess the risk of mercury ingredients in food and drugs, on July 9, 1999, the CDC published a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) stating that given that the “potential risk” of Thimerosal was of concern, “the Public Health Service (PHS), the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), and vaccine manufacturers agree that thimerosal-containing vaccines should be removed as soon as possible.”19
In 2001, Institute of Medicine’s (IOM) Immunization Safety Review Committee published a report titled “Immunization Safety Review: Thimerosal-Containing Vaccines and Neurodevelopmental Disorders” that concluded the evidence was “inadequate to accept or reject a causal relationship between exposure to thimerosal from vaccines and the neurodevelopmental disorders of autism, ADHD, and speech or language delay.” The IOM committee went further and recommended that “full consideration be given by appropriate professional societies and government agencies to removing thimerosal from vaccines administered to infants, children, or pregnant women in the United States.”20 21
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