The highest vaccine official with the Meals and Drug Administration has resigned and criticized Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for permitting “misinformation and lies” to information his pondering behind the protection of vaccinations.
Dr. Peter Marks despatched a letter to appearing FDA Commissioner Sara Brenner on Friday saying that he would resign and retire by April 5 as director of the Heart for Biologics Analysis and Analysis.
In his letter, which was obtained by the Related Press, Marks mentioned he was “prepared to work” to deal with the issues expressed by Kennedy concerning the security of vaccinations. However he concluded that wasn’t doable.
“It has change into clear that reality and transparency are usually not desired by the Secretary, however relatively he needs subservient affirmation of his misinformation and lies,” Marks wrote.
The U.S. Division of Well being and Human Providers didn’t reply to a request for remark.
Marks was supplied the selection of resigning or being fired by Kennedy, in accordance with a former FDA official conversant in the discussions, who spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of he didn’t have permission to debate the matter publicly.
Kennedy has a protracted historical past of spreading anti-vaccine misinformation, though throughout his Senate affirmation hearings he promised the chair of the Well being Committee that he wouldn’t change present vaccine suggestions.
Since turning into secretary of Well being and Human Providers, Kennedy has vowed to scrutinize the protection of childhood vaccinations, regardless of many years of proof they’re secure and have saved hundreds of thousands of lives.
Marks oversaw the company’s speedy evaluate and approval of COVID-19 vaccines and coverings throughout the peak of the pandemic.
Marks is credited with coining the identify and idea for Operation Warp Pace, the trouble throughout President Trump’s first time period to quickly manufacture vaccines whereas they have been nonetheless being examined for security and efficacy. The initiative minimize years off the conventional improvement course of.
Regardless of the mission’s success, Trump has repeatedly lashed out on the FDA for not approving the primary COVID pictures even sooner. Trump informed confidants after his 2020 election loss that he would have been reelected if the vaccine had been out there earlier than election day. Since then, Trump has achieved little to counter opposition to the pictures and misinformation associated to vaccines, voiced by a lot of his most ardent supporters.
Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine knowledgeable at Youngsters’s Hospital of Philadelphia, criticized what he known as the “firing” of Marks.
“RFK Jr.’s firing of Peter Marks as a result of he wouldn’t bend a knee to his misinformation marketing campaign now permits the fox to protect the hen home,” Offit mentioned. “It’s a tragic day for America’s kids.”
Former FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Califf mentioned the problems raised in Marks’ resignation letter “ought to be horrifying to anybody dedicated to the significance of proof to information insurance policies and affected person selections.”
“I hope this may intensify the communication throughout academia, business and authorities to bolster the significance of science and proof,” he wrote.
The resignation follows information Friday that the Division of Well being and Human Providers plans to put off 10,000 staff and shut down total companies, together with ones that oversee billions of {dollars} in funds for dependancy companies and neighborhood well being facilities throughout the nation.
In a submit on social media Thursday, Kennedy criticized the division he oversees as an inefficient “sprawling paperwork.” He additionally faulted the division’s 82,000 staff for a decline in Individuals’ well being.
The resignation is the newest blow to the beleaguered well being company, which has been rocked for weeks by layoffs, retirements and a chaotic return-to-office course of that left many staffers with out everlasting workplaces, desks or different provides. Final month, Jim Jones, the FDA’s deputy commissioner for meals, resigned, citing “the indiscriminate firing” of almost 90 staffers in his division, in accordance with a duplicate of his resignation letter obtained by the AP.
Marks, who couldn’t be reached for remark, additionally raised issues in his letter about “efforts at present being superior by some on the antagonistic well being results of vaccination are regarding” in addition to the “unprecedented assault on scientific reality that has adversely impacted public well being in our nation.”
He went on to element the historic advantages of vaccinations relationship again to George Washington and pointed to the continued measles outbreak as proof of what can occur when doubts about science take maintain.
“The continued multistate measles outbreak that’s significantly extreme in Texas reminds us of what occurs when confidence in well-established science underlying public well being and well-being is undermined,” he wrote.
The measles outbreak, which may go on for months, has now unfold to Kansas and Ohio after sickening greater than 370 in Texas and New Mexico. A toddler in Texas and an grownup in New Mexico have died.
If it hits different unvaccinated communities throughout the U.S., as could now be the case in Kansas, the outbreak may endure for a yr and threaten the nation’s standing as having eradicated the native unfold of the vaccine-preventable illness, public well being specialists mentioned.
Casey and Perrone write for the Related Press. Casey reported from Boston. Perrone reported from Washington.
