About that Vaccine Study RFK Cited At His Confirmation Hearing

Kennedy used a study from his allies to defend his discredited claims about vaccines and autism.

Written by Walker Bragman and Nick Tsergas

This piece has been updated as of 2/2/25.

Confirmation hearings for Robert Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, were held this week. The hearings generated many buzzy moments, including open clashes with senators over Kennedy’s storied history of spreading medical misinformation, his role in the 2019 Samoan measles tragedy, and his outlandish claims about Black Americans and the vaccine schedule.

While Kennedy didn’t deny some of his more controversial past statements, he did try to reintroduce himself to the public after years in the spotlight as one of the nation’s leading anti-science voices. To this end, Kennedy attempted to market himself as not anti-vaccine, but “pro-safety.”

At the same time though, during his Thursday hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, he defended the long-discredited claim that vaccines are linked to autism when confronted about his past statements on the matter by physician and GOP Louisiana Senator Bill Cassidy. Kennedy tried to back this up with a recent study from an obscure publication, insisting “there are other studies out there” and adding, “I just want to follow the science.”

But the paper he cited is dubious at best—and his influence network’s fingerprints are all over it.

Earlier this week, Important Context reported on the rebrand of Frontline COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance (FLCCC), a Kennedy-affiliated anti-vaccine dark money group known for its dogmatic promotion of the anti-parasitic drug ivermectin as treatment for COVID (and other medical maladies). In that report, we noted that FLCCC founders Pierre Kory and Paul Marik, doctors whose board certifications were revoked for spreading COVID misinformation, were on the editorial board of a new medical journal called Science, Public Health Policy, and the Law (SPHPL).

The study Kennedy cited in Thursday’s hearing came from this journal. First published just over a week ago, it was authored by Anthony R. Mawson, who is the principal officer of a 501(c)(3) charity called the Chalfont Research Institute, founded in 2014. The address listed on the group’s 2021 IRS Form 990 appears to be a residential home in Jackson, Mississippi. Three years before founding his nonprofit, Mawson unsuccessfully sued the Mississippi State Department of Health, alleging that his contract at the University of Mississippi Medical Center was not renewed due to the interference of a state officer after he called for more studies on vaccine safety.

Mawson is no stranger to Kennedy, who cited his work in a 2017 article for his anti-vaccine dark money group Children’s Health Defense. Kennedy referred to Mawson as a “renowned epidemiologist,” noting he had “more than fifty published studies.” Mawson’s work on vaccines and autism, however, has come under scrutiny. An abstract he worked on was pulled after receiving criticism in 2016. The paper was published elsewhere and subsequently retracted a year later.

The study Kennedy amplified during his confirmation hearing has been criticized for its flawed methodology and funding from the National Vaccine Information Center, an anti-vax group that organized an in-person action at Kennedy’s urging to pack the Senate hearing room in support his nomination. NBC reported that the group directed supporters to wear merchandise purchased from Kennedy’s official online store.

The SPHPL journal itself is a project of an LLC called IPAK-EDU. Launched in 2020, IPAK purports to be an advanced learning platform, offering courses on topics like vaccines. The syllabus for the vaccine course includes a section on autism and “autism recovery” from “vaccine-induced autism.” The faculty page for IPAK appears incomplete with a generic placeholder for an employee listed as “Employee name” who holds “Position.”

“Tell site visitors about this employee, detailing their expertise, education, or passion,” the description reads. “To edit this paragraph, click on the text and replace it with your own content.”

The owner and founder of IPAK-EDU is James Lyons-Weiler, a long-time ally and vocal defender of Kennedy’s, who serves as the editor-in-chief of SPHPL as well as the section editor for the sections on Science and Public Health, Public Health, and Diagnostics. IPAK-EDU’s “Resident Complex Systems Theorist” VN Alexander is the Ethics section editor.

On its website, SPHPL calls the editorial board “a consortium of international, multidisciplinary experts united by a shared focus on enhancing human health and reducing human pain and suffering,” and claims members were “selected for their profound contributions and comprehension of their fields.”

But in truth, it’s a group of anti-vaccine advocates, many of whom are boosters of Kennedy and have contributed writing to CHD.

The CHD Press Team told Important Context that the group had not funded either Mawson’s research or the SPHPL journal. Kennedy formally stepped down as chairman from CHD in December in anticipation of his Senate confirmation and claimed to have no ties to the group during his first hearing. The CHD website describes him as the organization’s “founder, former chairman and chief litigation counsel.”

The SPHPL editorial board includes Mary Holland, president and general counsel of CHD. Editor-in-chief Lyons-Wieler has written 26 articles for CHD since 2017. One of those pieces, from July 2023, argues that the unvaccinated were not responsible for recent measles outbreaks.

Then there is anti-vax star Dr. Peter McCullough, who serves as the chief scientific officer of the MAGA-aligned outfit “The Wellness Company,” which hawks ivermectin and vaccine detox supplements. Like Kory and Marik, McCullough had his certifications from the American Board of Internal Medicine revoked for pushing COVID misinformation. He edits the journal’s Clinical section and has written multiple pieces for CHD.

Another editorial board member is Paul Thomas, an Oregon anti-vaxxer whose story has been covered by CHD. Thomas, who voluntarily surrendered his medical license after the Oregon medical board found he had engaged in gross negligence, was a signatory on a letter to the Senate in support of Kennedy. Thomas has published papers with Lyons-Weiler, including one in 2020 that purported to show a link between vaccines and pediatric behavioral problems and was later retracted.

CHD’s chief science officer, Brian Hooker, is also on the editorial board. A biologist and chemist known for promoting vaccine-autism junk science, Hooker co-authored a book with Kennedy, Vax-Unvax: Let the Science Speak, and spoke at the 2023 CHD conference. Editorial board member Dr. Aseem Malhotra, a UK-based anti-vax cardiologist, spoke at the conference as well. Malhotra is a staunch ally of Kennedy and health economist Jay Bhattacharya, Trump’s NIH pick. He made the pseudo-documentary, First Do No Pharm, which featured Bhattacharya.

Hooker is not the only editorial board member to have published with Kennedy. Christopher Shaw wrote a book through CHD titled, Dispatches from the Vaccine Wars: Fighting for Human Freedom During the Great Reset, with a forward from Kennedy.

Attorney Jim Moody, who edits the SPHPL journal’s Law section, appeared in the pseudo-documentary Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe, which was directed by disgraced academic and former physician Andrew Wakefield, progenitor of the fraudulent vaccine-autism narrative. Despite his fall from grace back home, Wakefield has been an inspiration and ally to Kennedy. Producing the film was anti-vaccine activist Del Bigtree, who worked for Kennedy’s presidential campaign and is a close ally of the HHS nominee.

Through the pandemic, Kennedy and CHD expanded their reach into Europe and the UK, and some of their allies from across the Atlantic are reflected in the SPHPL editorial board as well. SPHPL’s managing editor, Harald Walach, founded the German anti-vax group Change Health Science Institute. Walach, who co-authored a paper claiming COVID vaccines cause nearly as many deaths as they prevent, has been a source for CHD in its “reporting.” Irish scientist turned anti-vaxxer Dolores Cahill, meanwhile, founded the World Doctors Alliance (later the World Freedom Alliance), which partnered with CHD.

There is also Tess Lawrie, a close ally of Kory’s and leader of various anti-science groups in the UK. Her group World Council for Health lists CHD, FLCCC, and The Wellness Company as coalition partners. According to leaked chat logs, Lawrie was also involved with members of UK-based anti-vax group Health Advisory and Recovery Team, which coordinated anti-vax influence campaigns on social media.

There are other notable connections to pandemic misinformation-spreading groups that run through the SPHPL journal as well. Editorial board member Andreas Sönnichsen is part of the team at the UK-based anti-lockdown charity Collateral Global, which is affiliated with Bhattacharya. Richard Urso is an original member of the pro-Trump doctor group America’s Front Line Doctors. The journal itself has featured content from sources like the Ludwig von Mises Institute, a think tank founded by anarcho-capitalist and former John Bircher Lew Rockwell which the Southern Poverty Law Center included in a report on neo-Confederates.