Danish physician, Poul Thorsen, who co-authored three studies that demonstrated that there were no links between childhood vaccines and autism, was arraigned on federal wire fraud and money laundering charges after his extradition from Germany.

If Thorsen committed this alleged fraud, he should be prosecuted to the full extent of US law. However, anti-vaxxers have used this crime to dispute the validity of scientific research that has dismissed any link between autism and vaccines.

This article will review what crime Poul Thorsen is alleged to have committed, plus why it has nothing to do with the science that shows vaccines do not cause autism.

Alleged crimes of Poul Thorsen

In 2010, Aarhus University in Denmark discovered a “considerable shortfall” involving US grant funds that Thorsen administered and referred the matter to the police. He has been accused of stealing over US$1 million in CDC grant money for autism research and was charged with 13 counts of wire fraud and 9 counts of money laundering.

After a grand jury in Atlanta indicted Thorsen in April 2011, a federal magistrate judge issued an arrest warrant. Thorsen remained in Denmark for nearly 14 years until June 2025, when authorities arrested the 65-year-old researcher in Germany, based on an INTERPOL Red Notice tied to the April 2011 warrant.

In the 1990s and 2000s, Poul Thorsen was employed as a visiting scientist from Denmark at the CDC’s Division of Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities. Thorsen fought for grants for Danish research on infant disabilities, such as autism. As a result of his activism, the CDC awarded over US$11 million to two Danish government agencies to study links between autism and vaccine exposure, cerebral palsy and infections during pregnancy, and childhood development and fetal alcohol exposure.

Thorsen was responsible for the research funding and moved back to Denmark in 2002 as the “principal investigator responsible for administering the research money awarded by the CDC,” according to the indictment.

After returning to Denmark, Thorsen funneled the CDC funds to his own personal use. He forged signatures and documents with CDC letterhead and submitted fake invoices he claimed were for research.

Thorsen moved the stolen funds into personal accounts. He then withdrew the money for his personal use, including the purchase of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle, cars, and a home in Atlanta, again, according to the indictment.

From February 2004 through June 2008, Thorsen asked for reimbursement for more than a dozen fraudulent invoices allegedly signed by another CDC lab manager who had nothing to do with the fraudulent activities. None of these expenses was linked to the CDC grant.

If all of these accusations are accurate, Poul Thorsen is a fraud who deserves a lengthy prison sentence. However, I want to make it clear that the indictment does not suggest that he committed any scientific fraud.

Autism and vaccines research from Poul Thorsen

As I mentioned above, Thorsen was a co-author on three autism-vaccine papers that were published in 2002 and 2003. One paper, on the MMR vaccine and autism, was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2002. Another paper, on thimerosal and autism, was published in Pediatrics in 2003. The third paper was published in a Danish medical journal and followed up on the MMR vaccine and autism study.

Despite the claims of anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists, his criminal activity does not lessen the science that shows that vaccines are not linked to autism. Here are the key points:

1. Poul Thorsen was one of many authors on this paper. In fact, he was not the lead author on any of the studies. Although I can’t be sure, he was one of the co-authors only because he got the original funding. The data in these studies were not changed by Thorsen, despite his alleged crimes.
2. One of the other authors, Anders Hviid, MSc, DrMedSci, of the Statens Serum Institut in Copenhagen, stated: “Poul Thorsen did not have access to the data in the NEJM study, and he did not play any part in the study design or statistical analyses. The data sources used in the NEJM study are nationwide administrative registers.” Again, it’s clear that Thorsen had nothing to do with the analysis or conclusions of the study.
3. If those three research studies were tainted by Thorsen’s alleged crimes, there are over 160 other studies that have shown no link between vaccines and autism. The science is settled — vaccines do not cause autism.
4. The Federal indictment against Thorsen does not include any accusation of scientific fraud. This is strictly a monetary crime.

Poul Thorsen is an embarrassment. If he did commit these crimes, we all want him to pay the price for those crimes.

But it has nothing to do with the research that shows vaccines are not linked to autism. The only fraud committed regarding vaccines and autism is from Andrew Wakefield, who claimed that vaccines cause autism.

The only reason we waste money on studies that show vaccines are not linked to autism is because of Wakefield’s fraud.

Citations

• Madsen KM, Hviid A, Vestergaard M, Schendel D, Wohlfahrt J, Thorsen P, Olsen J, Melbye M. A population-based study of measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination and autism. N Engl J Med. 2002 Nov 7;347(19):1477-82. PubMed PMID: 12421889.
• Madsen KM, Hviid A, Vestergaard M, Schendel D, Wohlfahrt J, Thorsen P, Olsen J, Melbye M. [MMR vaccination and autism–a population-based follow-up study]. Ugeskr Laeger. 2002 Dec 2;164(49):5741-4. Danish. PubMed PMID: 12523209.
• Madsen KM, Lauritsen MB, Pedersen CB, Thorsen P, Plesner AM, Andersen PH, Mortensen PB. Thimerosal and the occurrence of autism: negative ecological evidence from Danish population-based data. Pediatrics. 2003 Sep;112(3 Pt 1):604-6. PubMed PMID: 12949291.

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