Final week introduced us two days of US Senate affirmation Hearings involving Mr. Kennedy. It went as many people right here suspected: Robust questions from (principally) Democratic senators and fawning adulation by (principally) Republican Senators. Kennedy was questioned in each the Senate Finance and Senate Well being Committees concerning vaccines, Medicaid, Medicare, NIH analysis, abortion, and drug costs. Not surprisingly Mr. Kennedy labored mightily in his effort to reconcile his a long time of anti-vaccine activism together with his now hard-to-believe claims that he’s all for vaccines. The Senate Finance Committee will meet Tuesday February 4th at 10 AM to vote on whether or not Kennedy advances to a full Senate vote.
Close to the tip of the second day (within the Senate Well being Committee), Kennedy pulled a backhanded maneuver utilizing what he thought was the ace up his sleeve — he cited as “different science” a newly revealed vaccinated versus unvaccinated (vax-unvax) examine claiming (after all) unvaccinated youngsters have fewer neurodevelopmental problems (learn: autism) than vaccinated. Right here is the change between Dr. Cassidy and Kennedy beginning at 2:53:44
[Cassidy]: You’re a sensible man. You’re studying the medical literature and also you’re arising with the latest medical literature on sure points. However right here is each an older article summarizing a lot of older articles which have come out because the unique refute of Wakefield article within the Lancet concerning measles and autism. And right here’s any person who you recognize it’s he stated he stated however any person who stated that beforehand you’ve had this offered to you. So again to me. I’m a doc. Making an attempt to grasp. If, how, persuade me that you’ll develop into the general public well being advocate however not simply churn previous info in order that there’s by no means a conclusion, as Senator Hassen advised. However that may develop into the influencer for individuals to consider; know there’s 1.25 million children studied and there’s no autism related to measles. How, you inform me, you see what my query is in there.
[Kennedy]: I’m going to be an advocate for robust science. You present me these scientific research and also you and I can meet about it. And there are different research as properly. I’d love to point out these to you. There’s a examine that got here out final week of 47,000 9 year-olds within the Medicaid system in Florida by a Loui — I believe a Louisiana scientist known as Mawson that exhibits the other. There are different research on the market, I simply need to observe the science. And I’ll do if the science says that I’m mistaken about what I’ve stated prior to now as I stated I’ll publicly apologize.
This didn’t sit properly with Senator Cassidy who had endured Kennedy’s evasive responses for each hearings. Cassidy, being committee chair, handed the dialogue to Senator Bernie Sanders whereas he checked out that examine. Later Cassidy (at 3:08:57) remarked he had regarded on the Mawson paper, however that it “appear to have some points”. Time didn’t allow Dr. Cassidy to elucidate additional.
“Some points”
“It had some points” is an understatement concerning Kennedy’s “different science” of Mawson’s paper, which has so many deadly flaws that it ought to by no means have been revealed (extra on that later). What utterly disqualifies this paper, nonetheless, is an undisclosed battle of curiosity (COI) with Albert Dwoskin who, up till 2019, was a rich funder of anti-vaccine analysis and a accomplice of Kennedy’s anti-vaccine group, Youngsters’s Well being Protection (CHD). In a nutshell, DEVEXI — which provided a filtered model of the Florida Medicaid knowledge to Mawson — was funded by a rich anti-vaccinationist (Dwoskin), with out Mawson’s disclosure in his paper. THAT ought to have been disclosed, particularly as Mawson may have obtained his knowledge instantly via the State of Florida as a substitute of this nebulous third-party anti-vaccine-funded database.
I may even take a look at Mawson within the context of two different papers by anti-vaccinationists: (1) a December 2024 paper co-authored by Brian Hooker (CHD’s Chief Science Officer (CSO)) and Karl Jablonowski, and (2) a retracted November 2020 vax-unvax paper by Lyons-Weiler and Paul Thomas, an Oregon MD who surrendered his medical license in 2022 moderately than face the Oregon Medical Board’s quite a few costs towards him for his anti-vaccine actions. The take house lesion is Mr. Kennedy and CHD declare they observe science, however all they actually do is trash science.
Mawson’s Research
This new examine was conveniently launched a mere 7 days earlier than this listening to. I believe this was to thwart efforts at debunking. However even on such brief discover, two researchers, Jessica Steier, DrPH, PMP and Andea Love PhD, laid naked on their Substacks many severe flaws on this paper (right here and right here). Amongst them: no correction for healthcare in search of habits (which is at all times much less in unvaccinated), an incomplete knowledge set (by Mawson’s personal admission), and an incapacity to trace all vaccines obtained by the 47,000 nine-year-olds within the examine. Any of those considerations would have torpedoed this vax-unvax paper on a official editor’s desk. However the editor who revealed that is James Lyons-Weiler, who runs a website online pretending to be a medical journal (it isn’t) made for laundering retracted research by anti-vaxxers. Due to this, Mawson’s article won’t ever face the slightest take a look at of precise science or scientists.
Conflicts of Curiosity
Kennedy may very well be confirmed as quickly as this week as Secretary of the US Division of Well being and Human Companies, giving him absolute management over the NIH, FDA, CDC and vaccine assessment committees. If confirmed, Kennedy may simply modify and even intestine the US vaccine program whereas himself profiting handsomely from tilting the vaccine panorama into the fingers of his vaccine litigation colleagues who may make many billions from vaccine lawsuits and kicking again 10% to him in referral charges. Thus, this undisclosed COI for Mawson has significance because it turns Kennedy’s “different science” into non-science that Kennedy promoted to advance Kennedy’s personal self-serving pursuits in turning into HHS Secretary.
Let’s take a look at this undisclosed COI.
Per Mawson, the Mawson paper used DEVEXI — “an built-in well being and medical analysis platform for producing epidemiological research” because the supply for Florida Medicaid knowledge. Mawson states in quotation 24 of his paper that DEVEXI “is not in existence” and that they final accessed DEVEXI in 2022. In step with this, DEVEXI’s website online is gone and their final Virginia Company Fee exercise was in 2021. DEVEXI’s prior net presence nonetheless exists and notes:
DEVEXI is a strong, intuitive well being and medical analysis platform linking 22 years of de-identified, HIPAA-compliant medical and dental claims knowledge for roughly 11 million sufferers. This platform hyperlinks knowledge from medical and dental therapies, pharmaceuticals and vaccines, exposures and brief and long-term well being outcomes to supply researchers with the info and distinctive analytics functionality for groundbreaking, longitudinal epidemiological research by no means earlier than doable. This Internet-based well being analysis platform seamlessly integrates 100 nationwide datasets on a variety of essential environmental, behavioral and socioeconomic exposures. DEVEXI permits researchers to enhance the standard and value effectiveness of healthcare throughout the trade together with medical colleges, public well being packages, instructing hospitals, insurance coverage payers, authorities well being businesses and pharmaceutical firms.
So, sure, DEVEXI is an organization that had entry to well being knowledge for outcomes analysis. DEVEXI was additionally famous by the NIH in 2020 to be a TPWA (third occasion web site software).
Comply with the Cash
Whereas looking DEVEXI’s historical past (created in 2016), an entity named DEVEXI ADJ LLC, (created in 2015) was discovered. The important thing right here is that this earlier LLC is an adjunct to DEVEXI LLC and it listed Albert Dwoskin as its organizer and agent. This was virtually actually completed so Dwoskin may bankroll DEVEXI, however even when not, he was concerned in DEVEXI.
Dwoskin’s involvement within the creation of DEVEXI is just not disclosed by Mawson. It ought to have been. Why? Two massive causes:
- Albert Dwoskin (when DEVEXI began in 2016) was ½ of the Dwoskin Household Basis, DFF. The opposite half of the DFF being now ex-wife Claire Dwoskin). DFF, on the time of DEVEXI beginning, funded quite a few anti-vaccine actions and analysis together with the Youngsters’s Medical Security Institute (CSMRI), which funded (after all) Mawson’s first vax-unvax examine in 2017. DFF has shared the identical handle ( 3201 JERMANTOWN RD STE 700, FAIRFAX, VA, 22030) since 2019 with DEVEXI ADJ LLC, which has the identical handle as DEVEXI LLC. For completeness (and equity), Mr. Dwoskin turned pro-vaccine (possible concurrent with the Dwoskin’s 2018 divorce) and the present incarnation of the DFF is now pro-vaccine (but it surely was not when DEVEXI began).
- CSMRI, which the Dwoskin’s additionally funded on the time of DEVEXI’s existence, was a coalition accomplice with CHD (CSMRI ended with the Dwoskin’s’ divorce).
Thus, this “different science” by Mawson that Kennedy cited in his testimony to Dr. Cassidy got here from Florida Medicaid knowledge processed via an anti-vaccine-funded company, as a substitute of being instantly obtained from the State of Florida (because it may have been, proven beneath). On high of that, there’s a coalition partnership between CHD and the individual funding DEVEXI. And none of this was disclosed. But Kennedy nonetheless desires to carry this examine as much as Dr. Cassidy as “different science”. No, Mawson’s examine is invalid.
I may finish right here with this. It’s damning sufficient. However two different papers present simply how deep the trashing of science is for the “different science” that Kennedy and CHD like to cite.
The 2024 Hooker Paper
Let’s now take a look at that 2024 paper by Hooker and Jablonowski, which checked out HibTITER vaccine results on youngsters within the State of Florid Medicaid database. Sound acquainted? Anti-vaccinationists love Florida Medicaid knowledge. Close to the tip of Hooker’s paper, a “Information Availability Assertion” notes:
All knowledge used is publicly obtainable via the Company for Well being Care Administration (https://ahca.myflorida.com/) …
This is the reason I said earlier Mawson didn’t want to make use of DEVEXI, no less than in accordance with Hooker. However right here is the place it will get really weird: Hooker didn’t get his knowledge instantly from the State of Florida; as a substitute, Hooker, like Mawson used DEVEXI. Sure, he did that although Hooker didn’t disclose it in his paper. That is disclosed in a December 2024 podcast/video on CHD the place Hooker interviews co-author Karl Jablonowski. Here’s what Hooker and Karl stated beginning at 3:55:
[Hooker]: I’ve actually thrown a big supercomputer at you that I knew nothing about and stated, ‘Hey Carl, make this sing’, and you probably did. And inform us slightly bit extra in regards to the knowledge that you just mined for this explicit venture is from the Florida Medicaid database. Inform us about that particular database you recognize, what number of entries? How giant is the database? You already know, how is it organized and, and, I’ll let you know we did get this actually kinda in a type of a wink wink sideways manner um it was truly it obtained from a politician in Florida after which it turned the guts of a software program bundle known as DEVEXI. DEVEXI is now out of enterprise however on the identical time that DEVEXI received the database I used to be capable of acquire a stack of CDs or DVDs I don’t know there have been some D’s. that we had been capable of then get this database, and I had this knowledge um and eventually sooner or later loaded it up on drop field however inform us slightly bit extra about you recognize moreover the again story what’s in there.
[Jablonowski]: Sure so, it’s um it’s about 2 a long time value of Medicare knowledge popping out of the state of Florida and it incorporates um just about all the diagnoses and all the medical procedures that had been carried out on people. It’s one of many largest medical databases I’ve labored with. And so, it was actually a beast to get into. It’s biased info in a lot as all info has a bias to it. it’s medical coded knowledge, so you’ve your pitfalls — are the physician or entity that’s getting into the codes for the info they’re after cash so they’ll code for issues that may give them revenue and if a specific prognosis doesn’t yield any revenue, they could not even trouble to code for it.
Unbelievable. Hooker admits to utilizing DEVEXI after which portrays how they obtained DEVEXI as not being above board. Ethics anybody? Apparently not for CHD and Hooker in the case of scoring an information hit (wink, wink, you recognize). This Hooker paper, like Mawson’s, is not legitimate resulting from failing to reveal the COI with DEVEXI. As an apart to point out you ways unhealthy this paper in any other case was, go pay attention from 32:30 to 34:30 the place Hooker and Jablonowski speak about how their paper was rejected by twelve journals earlier than being accepted. That may very well be a report.
Conceal the DEVEXI
Hooker’s use and concealment of DEVEXI in his paper leads me to this assertion: CHD/Hooker provided DEVEXI to Mawson, with a purpose to end his examine, however then hid it (by not disclosing DEVEXI’s use in Hooker’s paper) as a result of Mawson’s examine wanted to seem impartial of CHD to make it “different science”. Mawson states in his paper that he final accessed the DEVEXI platform in 2022; so, this paper took two extra years to return out since final DEVEXI entry? I’ll wager Mawson wasn’t completed doing knowledge evaluation and wanted to entry the remnants of DEVEXI held by Hooker. That is in line with Mawson’s admission of incomplete knowledge (cited in “Limitations of the Research” #4 and famous by Drs. Steier and Jones of their debunkings).
However most damning is that Hooker claimed to make use of direct entry to Florida Medicaid knowledge, when in fact he used DEVEXI. Hooker doesn’t need DEVEXI linked to CHD, however clearly it’s. One can solely conclude DEVEXI existed solely as a faux-legit modifier of Florida Medicaid knowledge for the aim of guaranteeing vaccine analysis favorable to anti-vaccinationists, particularly given the one two recognized papers which have used DEVEXI are these by Mawson and Hooker. And once more, Mr. Kennedy has the nerve to sit down there in entrance of the US Senate Well being Committee and cite Mawson’s examine as legit “different science”. It isn’t.
How Handy
Mawson’s examine appeared simply in time for Kennedy to quote it in his testimony. The paper was submitted in October 2024 and accredited December 2024, but Mawson was engaged on it manner again in 2018 as famous within the Dialogue part of his paper which states in “Strengths of the Research” #7:
The authors had been the primary customers to check and function the preliminary model of DEVEXI (Private communication from Mitch Praver, co-founder of DEVEXI, 07/19/2018).
So, the work on this paper began 6 ½ years in the past and solely simply now one week previous to Kennedy’s testimony it simply coincidentally will get revealed. I believe not. This was completed to attenuate any probability such execrable vax-unvax analysis may get debunked and refuted.
CHD’s Undisclosed Attain Into Different Vax-Unvax Research
Now let’s take a look at the third paper — the now-retracted vax-unvax examine by Lyons-Weiler and Thomas. In a latest January 24 NBC Information article, investigative journalist Brandy Zadrozny lastly confirmed why Kennedy was in Samoa in June 2019 — he went to carry out a potential “vax-unvax” examine on the kids of this island nation that had seen its MMR vaccination charges drop precipitously from 2018 to 2019, partially as a result of efforts of Kennedy’s allies. Relating to Kennedy’s Samoa go to, Zadrozny stories info related to this SBM submit:
Kennedy wasn’t alone on the dinner. He introduced the Youngsters’s Well being Protection’s new chief info officer [CIO], Dr. Michael Graven, a lauded neonatologist recognized for creating info techniques that tracked and improved well being outcomes on this planet’s poorest international locations…
…In 2019, Graven was analyzing the info for a examine that might be revealed in 2020 by two distinguished anti-vaccine activists, scientist James Lyons-Weiler and Oregon pediatrician Paul Thomas, whose license can be suspended the identical yr — partially for his failure to adequately vaccinate sufferers — after which voluntarily relinquished two years later.
Evaluating well being outcomes of Thomas’ sufferers, the examine concluded that unvaccinated youngsters in his apply had been more healthy than vaccinated ones. It was retracted a yr later following an investigation that “raised a number of methodological points and confirmed that the conclusions weren’t supported by robust scientific knowledge.”
The Puppet Grasp
Zadrozny refers right here to the identical retracted Lyons-Weiler and Thomas paper I cited above. Dr. Graven actually was CHD’s CIO, as seen on web page 7 of CHD’s 2019 IRS kind 990 (but additionally confirmed by Zadrozny in interviews of Graven’s household and mates). Graven was additionally concerned on this now-retracted Lyons-Weiler and Thomas paper, as Thomas himself notes in Chapter 1 of his new guide “Vax Details”:
In January of 2019, I obtained a letter from the Oregon Medical Board saying that I wanted to show the vaccine-friendly plan was as secure because the CDC vaccine schedule. Whereas their letter didn’t convey an overt menace, my legal professional suggested me that failing to adjust to their calls for, even after they had been unreasonable, may value me my license. So, we did. I employed an impartial advisor (a pediatrician, neonatologist, and informatics professional) and tasked him with pulling the info on each child born into my apply from the day we opened our doorways (June 1, 2008) to the day he closed that dataset in February 2019. We had 10.5 years of information on many well being outcomes. The evaluation of the info was revealed…
Thomas verifies Graven was an unnamed “impartial” advisor concerned in his retracted paper the place Thomas describes him as a neonatologist and informatics professional. Given Graven was CIO of CHD on the identical time he was pulling Thomas’ knowledge, Graven was in no way “impartial”. Lyons-Weiler and Thomas ought to have disclosed it. They didn’t.
Earlier I asserted CHD was concerned with out disclosure within the new Mawson examine. I assert right here that Kennedy’s CHD — with out disclosure — was deeply concerned within the creation of the Lyons-Weiler and Thomas vax-unvax paper as properly. Kennedy/CHD is behind a number of “different sciences” they like to cite as impartial analysis and they don’t seem to be keen to reveal it. Wakefield over again, anybody?
What It All Means
Kennedy, all through the 2 days of hearings, repeatedly refused to acknowledge the huge quantity of legitimate, peer-reviewed analysis displaying vaccines are usually not related to autism. We now know he won’t ever do this, given he straight up cited invalid science as legitimate to Dr. Cassidy. If confirmed, Kennedy will maintain trashing science. He is not going to develop into the general public well being advocate Dr. Cassidy inspired him to be. He won’t ever apologize for being mistaken about what he’s stated, certainly he won’t ever admit to being mistaken. As an alternative, Kennedy will proceed exploiting the trashed science he helps create for his personal profit. He’ll additional drive down US vaccine charges like occurred in Samoa. We’ll see outbreaks of measles, pertussis and meningitis that may hospitalize and kill our infants and youngsters. And it is going to be horrible.