By Ahmed Aboulenein
WASHINGTON, April 22 (Reuters) – U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told senators on Wednesday he saw no issue with sharing his ally David Geier’s Department of Health and Human Services contract with them by the end of the week.
Geier, a longtime anti-vaccine activist, is employed as a contractor and reports to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Kennedy testified in his sixth congressional hearing over the past week.
The release of his employment contract would be the first official detailed explanation of the role Geier is playing at the department. He has been listed as a senior data analyst in the HHS employee database.
Appearing before the Senate Finance Committee, Kennedy was asked by Senator Ben Ray Luján, a Democrat from New Mexico, if he would also commit to sharing the protocols that govern Geier’s work. Kennedy said he could not because the protocols do not exist yet but that he would share them once Geier’s work was complete.
Kennedy has previously said Geier, who like Kennedy has promoted debunked claims linking vaccines to autism, contrary to established science, is leading a vaccine safety review of CDC data.
Geier was previously fined by Maryland for practicing medicine without a license and prescribing dangerous treatments to children with autism.
(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein in WashingtonEditing by Bill Berkrot)
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