US Health Secretary’s Unusual Retraction Request Denied by Journal

In an unusual move for a U.S. public official, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has called for the retraction of a Danish study that found no link between aluminum in vaccines and chronic childhood diseases. The scientific journal that published the study has rejected the request, affirming its support for the researchers. Aluminum has been used for nearly a century to boost the immune system’s response to certain vaccines. Some critics, however, cite a since-debunked 2012 study to claim the ingredient is connected to rising rates of childhood disorders such as autism. Ivan Oransky, an expert in academic publishing and co-founder of the media organization Retraction Watch, stated that with this demand, “Secretary Kennedy has demonstrated that he wants the scientific literature to bend to his will.” The study in question, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in July, is one of the largest of its kind, examining 1.2 million children born in Denmark over more than two decades. As reported by the prestigious journal Nature, the authors concluded that exposure to aluminum compounds in vaccines posed no significant risk of developing autoimmune, allergic, or neurological developmental disorders. In an August 1st opinion piece published on TrialSite News, Kennedy questioned the study’s methodology, analysis, and conclusions. In an August 11th comment on the study’s webpage, the journal’s editor-in-chief, Christine Laine, wrote that “retraction is justified only when serious errors invalidate the results or there is documented scientific misconduct, neither of which occurred in this instance.” Aluminum, in the form of salts like aluminum potassium sulfate, has been administered in vaccines for diseases from whooping cough to pneumonia to millions of people worldwide and has been extensively studied for safety.