Unpublished Henry Ford study at center of vaccine safety debate
Kristen Jordan Shamus
Detroit Free Press
September 25, 2025
Summary
- A "flawed" draft of a 2020 Henry Ford Health research study suggests vaccinated children suffer from chronic diseases at a higher rate than unvaccinated children.
- The research came up in a U.S. Senate subcommittee meeting in September.
In an emailed statement, Henry Ford Health said:
“There are many factors that determine whether a research paper should be submitted for consideration by scientific journals. In this case, an initial peer review of the draft revealed immediate and significant concerns due to serious data flaws, including:
- The unvaccinated patient sample was vastly different than the vaccinated sample, with more males, more white children, less prematurity and less respiratory distress at birth.
- The unvaccinated sample was very small in comparison to the vaccinated sample.
- The amount of time measuring occurrence of disease was much shorter for the unvaccinated children. One quarter were observed only through six months of age, and 75% were only observed up until age 3, which is before doctors can confidently diagnose chronic pediatric diseases.
- The draft compared multiple vaccines vs. no vaccines, instead of a specific vaccine vs. no vaccines.
- No consideration was given to the number of vaccines or the duration of time between vaccines and the occurrence of disease.
- Vaccine guidance has changed over time, but that was not taken into consideration.
"In the end, this report was not published because it did not even come close to meeting the rigorous scientific standards we demand — not because of the results."
freep.com
Poor study design. Lack of controls.
There's a bias comparing vaccinated and unvaccinated since the latter tend to be poorer and don't have a primary doctor who regularly hears their medical complaints and performs the diagnoses, There's going to be a lot more unreported illnesses and other medical conditions among the second group. |
