White House blames 'formatting issues' in health report that cited non-existent studies

The wide-ranging " do America good for you(p) once again" (MAHA) cover spearheaded by U.S. Wellness and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cited hundreds of studies, but a closer look by the news organization NOTUS found that some of those studies did not actually exist.

Asked about the report's problems on Thursday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the report will be updated. She did not directly respond to a question of whether artificial intelligence had been used to generate the 72-page report, which calls for increased scrutiny of the childhood vaccine schedule and decried America's food supply, pesticides and prescription drugs.

"I understand there was some formatting issues with the MAHA report that are being addressed and the report will be updated." Leavitt told reporters during her briefing. "But it does not negate the substance of the report, which, as you know, is one of the most transformative health reports that has ever been released by the federal government."

Leavitt said that the White House has "complete confidence" in Kennedy.

NOTUS reported Thursday that seven of the more than 500 studies cited in the report did not appear to have ever been published, while its report said some studies were also misinterpreted in the MAHA report.   

Katherine Keyes, an epidemiology professor at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, was cited in the report as the author of "Changes in mental health and substance use among US adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic," which the report said was published in the medical journal JAMA Pediatrics.

Keyes told Reuters that neither she nor the named co-authors of the paper had written it.

According to Virginia Commonwealth University, psychiatry professor Robert L. Findling — who teaches at that school — did not author the article cited in the report as "Direct-to-consumer advertising of psychotropic medications for youth: A growing concern" in the Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology. 

The studies attributed to Findling and Keyes no longer appeared in the MAHA report on the White House website as of Thursday evening.

Kennedy has spent decades sowing doubt about the safety of vaccines, raising concerns within the scientific and medical communities over the policies he would pursue as health secretary. Since taking the role, thousands of workers at federal health agencies have been fired and billions cut from U.S. Biomedical research spending — though at times in congressional testimony, Kennedy has professed a lack of knowledge of some of the layoffs.

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The MAHA report is supposed to be used to develop policy recommendations that will be released later this year. The White House has requested a $500 million US boost in funding from Congress for the initiative.

Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, told the Washington Post that, "for all practical purposes, [the report] should be junked at this point."

"It cannot be used for any policymaking. It cannon even be used for any serious discussion, because you can't believe what's in it.

It was the latest development in a busy week for Kennedy and the department. On Tuesday, he announced in a brief video that COVID-19 vaccines are no longer recommended for healthy children and pregnant women — a move immediately questioned by several public health experts.

A Centers for Diseases Control (CDC) advisory panel is set to meet in June to make recommendations about the fall shots, but Kennedy decided not to wait for the scientific panel's review. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, head of the National Institutes of Health, appeared in the video with Kennedy, but no one from CDC did.

"There's no new data or information, just them flying by the seat of their pants," said Michael Osterholm, director of the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy.

Some physicians and public health leaders expressed concern that Health and Human Services officials disregarded a scientific review process that has been in place for decades, in which experts — in public meetings — review current medical evidence and hash out the pros and cons of policy changes.

"It's a dangerous precedent," said Osterholm.

Among the problems, experts said, was the implication that the coronavirus isn't dangerous to pregnant women.

During the height of the pandemic, deaths of women during pregnancy or shortly after childbirth soared to their highest level in 50 years. As well, pregnancy was on the list of health conditions that would qualify someone for a COVID-19 vaccination under FDA's new guidance framework announced just last week.

"To say that they are not at any risk is simply incorrect," said Dr. Sean O'Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics.

As well, the The Trump administration this week cancelled $766 million US paid to Moderna for vaccine development.

Moderna received $176 million US in July 2024 and $590 million in January. The January award would have supported a late-stage clinical trial that could have determined vaccine efficacy against pandemic viruses, including bird flu, a company spokesman said on Wednesday.

H5N1 bird flu viruses spilled from wild bird into cattle in the U.S. Last year, infecting hundreds of animals in several states. At least 70 people in the U.S. Have been sickened by bird flu infections, mostly mild, but one person died.

Some scientists fear that continued mutation of the virus could allow it to become more virulent or more easily spread in people.  

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