A Minnesotan visiting Washington, DC, has been confirmed to have measles, while the Washington Post reports David Geier, an outspoken vaccine critic, will be heading up a new federal effort to study autism and vaccines. Both news comes as new CDC research shows routine childhood immunizations remained below prepandemic levels 3 years after the COVID-19 pandemic began.
Minnesota’s first measles case-patient in 2025 was traveling Washington, DC, when diagnosed as having measles, and officials said the person may have exposed countless others to the highly infectious virus, including passengers on an Amtrak train. The Washington Post reported the person was not contagious when he or she flew from Minneapolis to Dulles International Airport.
The patient was fully vaccinated against the virus. The United States is now approaching 400 measles cases this year, spurred by an ongoing outbreak among mostly unvaccinated children in West Texas, New Mexico, and Oklahoma.
Geier, Kennedy, committed to vaccine and autism link
Yesterday the New York Times reported doctors in West Texas said they seeing children with signs of liver damage due to ingesting too much vitamin A in an effort to prevent and cure measles. Vitamin A, typically found in cod liver oil, has been falsely promoted by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., as a way to prevent measles.
Last night, it was reported Kennedy’s HHS has hired David Geier to study a purported link between vaccines and autism according to the Washington Post. Geier, who has been disciplined for practicing medicine without a license, has long claimed vaccines cause autism, and has published several papers with his father, physician Mark Geier, on the topic.
David Geier does not have a medical degree or any advanced science degree.
It seems the goal of this administration is to prove that vaccines cause autism, even though they don’t.
In a statement given to the Washington Post, Alison Singer, president of the Autism Science Foundation said, “It seems the goal of this administration is to prove that vaccines cause autism, even though they don’t. They are starting with the conclusion and looking to prove it. That’s not how science is done.”
Childhood vaccination rates down
In related research news, a study today in Pediatrics shows that, more than 3 years after the COVID-19 pandemic started, coverage for selected routine childhood immunizations remained below prepandemic levels.
The study was based on infants born between January 1, 2018 and May 31, 2023, with at least at least one medical visit between 9 and 12 months at 1 of 8 Vaccine Safety Datalink (VSD) health systems.
The VSD is the CDC’s main project monitoring vaccine safety and adverse events. A total of 395,143 infants were included in the study, which looked at uptake of rotavirus (RV), diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis (DTaP), and pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) vaccines.
The authors evaluated coverage with 2 doses of RV, DTaP, and PCV vaccines at 5 months, and completion of recommended doses by 12 months. Coverage for 2 doses of all 3 vaccines at 5 months was 87.8% (95% confidence interval [CI], 86.9 to 88.7) in February 2020 and had dropped to 80.8% (95% CI, 79.8 to 81.8) in October 2023.
In January 2020 vaccine series completion at 12 months was 92.3% (95% CI, 91.6 to 92.9) and 89.6% (95% CI, 88.8 to 90.3) in October 2023.
“Demographic factors, which may reflect structural barriers to accessing care, likely affected coverage,” the authors said, as Black children and those on Medicaid saw the biggest drop in vaccination rates after the pandemic.
