WASHINGTON, Aug 11, 2025 – Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has failed in his attempt to have a major vaccine safety study withdrawn.
The Annals of Internal Medicine has rejected his demand to retract a large Danish study that tracked more than 1.2 million children over two decades, finding no evidence that aluminum in vaccines increases the risk of allergic, neurodevelopmental, or autoimmune disorders.
Kennedy, the U.S. Health Secretary and a long-time vaccine skeptic, claimed in TrialSite News that the research was a “deceitful propaganda stunt” intended to conceal potential harms. Lead author Anders Peter Hviid dismissed the accusation as baseless, while journal editor-in-chief Christine Laine said there was “no reason for retraction” and defended the study’s methodology.
Some critics argued the absence of an unvaccinated control group was a flaw, but Hviid said only about 2 percent of Danish children are unvaccinated, making meaningful comparison impossible. Independent experts described the data as robust and high-quality despite acknowledged design limitations.
The dispute highlights the clash between scientific evidence and political skepticism, and the challenge of maintaining public trust in vaccine safety research.