Sage Gets Bullied by RFK, Jr.
Publisher plays along with bogus vaccine study done by anti-vax minions
Brian Hooker is the chief scientific officer for Children’s Health Defense (CHD), the organization that started out in 2007 as the World Mercury Project. It was the same year Jenny McCarthy amplified the Wakefield fraud and its claims about thimerasol as a preservative linked to autism.
Some years later, RFK, Jr., joined the board of the WMP, changed its name to CHD, and used CHD to fund his rise to power and become Secretary of Health and Human Services, where he has been undermining vaccine policy as much as he possibly can.
RFK, Jr., and Hooker are tight, working in conjunction many times over the years. As Wikipedia states it, Hooker “is known for promoting the false claim that vaccines cause autism.” He has no medical degree.
Neil Miller is a self-proclaimed “medical research journalist” with no scientific degrees. He is mainly known for running the ThinkTwice Global Vaccine Institute (domain currently available for purchase).
Both Miller and Hooker were affiliated with the Pediatric Health Outcomes Initiative, a non-profit that existed for exactly one year (2021). It is mentioned in the current debacle as if it still exists or mattered at all.
In May 2020, Hooker and Miller co-authored an article published in Sage Open Medicine that claimed based on medical records from three medical practices that vaccinated children had greater odds for developmental delays, asthma, and ear infections. They paid $2,000 to make the study OA.
On May 18, 2026, Sage Open Medicine put an Expression of Concern on the paper. RFK, Jr., responded quickly, calling out the journal for not following COPE guidance to the letter in his opinion, and gave the journal a deadline of August 15th to explain itself, as if he has any authority over journals.
On August 28th, Sage capitulated, removing the Expression of Concern and replacing it with a Publisher’s Note, a meaningless amendment to the article and one clearly designed to keep RFK, Jr., and his minions off their back.
- Miller had another article removed from an Elsevier journal in June. Published in 2021, it claimed that VAERS data showed a connection between vaccines and SIDS. Like this one, it was bullshit.
Hooker and Miller aren’t qualified to do studies like these. They have clear baises and agendas. They are political hacks, not scientists. These papers would never have been published in journals not receiving payments to publish them, in my opinion. For Sage Open Medicine to capitulate to the mildest of pressure from an anti-science loon like RFK, Jr., is contemptible, antithetical to the idea of a free press and independent scientific journals, and a sad sign of decay for a publisher that once held its head high.
Responses like these only embolden bullies, Sage.
Thanks a lot.
