HHS Plans No-Bid Contract on Tying Autism to Vaccines

Federal health officials intend to award a contract to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to investigate whether there is a link between vaccinations and autism, according to a government procurement notice. The Troy, New York, engineering school was selected for the no-bid contract because of its "unique ability" to link data on children and mothers, according to the notice posted this week, the AP reports. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a leading voice in the antivaccine movement before President Trump selected him to oversee health agencies, announced in April a "massive testing and research effort" to determine the cause of autism by this month. He has repeatedly tried to link vaccines to the condition—though scientists have longed ruled out any connection.

Department of Health and Human Services officials did not immediately respond to questions about the notice, including how much the contract is for or what exactly the researchers intend to do. An RPI biotech engineering professor, Juergen Hahn, has used artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques to look for patterns in blood samples of children with autism. Hahn "is renowned for the quality and rigor of his research," RPI officials said in a statement acknowledging the intended grant. "If this project is awarded, he intends to publish the results of his work at the conclusion of the project," the statement added, per the AP.

The notice raises many questions, said Alycia Halladay, who oversees research activities and grants for the Autism Science Foundation. RPI is not known in the field as having any such special access and "wouldn't be the obvious choice," Halladay said. It's also not clear how the contract fits into other autism research that the government may be planning, she said. But perhaps the biggest question is why money is being spent on such a study at all, she added. Scientists have ruled out a link between vaccines and autism, finding no evidence of increased rates of autism among those who are vaccinated compared with those who are not. "The question has been studied for 20 years, multiple times by researchers around the world using millions of people, and there has never been a credible association found between vaccines and autism," Halladay said.