Kennedy Seeks Explanation from Journal Editor on Removal of 2021 Vaccine Paper by 25 June

U.S. health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. posted a letter on X on Monday asking the editor of Toxicology Reports to answer questions about the journal’s decision to remove a 2021 paper by 25 June. The paper, written by Neil Z. Miller, used reports from the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System to suggest a link between vaccines and sudden infant death syndrome.

Kennedy’s letter was dated one week after The Guardian published a story about the removal. The journal posted a five-paragraph notice explaining that editors had identified serious methodological flaws after an investigation launched last year.

Elsevier, the journal’s publisher, told The Guardian the decision followed careful review and consultation with relevant experts. It said the recommendations and conclusions may pose potential risks to public health and could be applied in clinical practice resulting in harm to patients.

The paper was one of three The Guardian highlighted that have been used by Kennedy and his allies to justify changes to federal vaccine policy.

It was published in 2021 and removed this spring. Miller, who is not a scientist, said he was asked to respond to eight concerns that he described as either insignificant or plainly incorrect. He said the journal never specified the methodological flaws in his paper.

Magdalen Wind-Mozley, a forensic scientist who works with the Oxford Vaccine Group, began raising concerns about the paper publicly in 2021 and made a complaint to the journal in 2022. ” Miller said on Monday that he did not know Kennedy’s letter was being sent.