Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is reportedly installing one of his longtime anti-vaccine allies to the vaccine safety office of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Lyn Redwood, a nurse who served for years as president of Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy, will be joining the CDC’s Immunization Safety Office, multiple health officials told The Washington Post, CBS News, and ABC News.
Redwood, the president emerita of Children’s Health Defense, became a vaccine skeptic in 1999 when her son was diagnosed with autism, according to the organization’s website. The group says in its mission statement that it “identifies and explains the toxins and mechanisms fueling the epidemic of chronic health issues plaguing our children.”
“Through collaboration with leading experts, we unearth the truth and uncover the intricate web of scientific corruption and deceit woven by government and corporate entities,” it claims.
The Immunization Safety Office is responsible for monitoring the safety of vaccines used in the U.S. and shares its findings with panels like the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, which makes recommendations on the vaccination schedule for children and adults.
Earlier this month, Kennedy sacked all 17 members of the ACIP and replaced them with eight new ones, including anti-vaccine voices like Dr. Robert Malone, who has pushed COVID-19 conspiracies.
At the ACIP meeting on Thursday, Redwood is expected to make a presentation on thimerosal, a preservative used to prevent microbial growth in vaccines that has been wrongly linked to autism because it contains mercury.
Kennedy authored a book in 2014 that advocated for the removal of thimerosal from vaccines, claiming that it is “immensely toxic to brain tissue.” But several peer-reviewed studies, as well as the CDC and Food and Drug Administration, have consistently maintained that there is no link between the ingredient and autism.
“Many well-conducted studies have concluded that thimerosal in vaccines does not contribute to the development of autism,” the CDC says. “Even after thimerosal was removed from almost all childhood vaccines, autism rates continued to increase, which is the opposite of what would be expected if thimerosal caused autism.”
The FDA adds that “scientific studies of the risk of other serious neurodevelopmental disorders have failed to support a causal link with thimerosal.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the CDC and the Health Department for comment.
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