The top vaccine official with the US Food and Drug Administration has resigned and criticised the nation’s top health official for allowing “misinformation and lies” to guide his thinking behind the safety of vaccinations.
Dr Peter Marks sent a letter to acting commissioner Sara Brenner on Friday saying that he would resign and retire by April 5 as the Centre for Biologics Evaluation and Research director.
In his letter, Marks said he was “willing to work” to address the concerns expressed by Robert F Kennedy Jr about the safety of vaccinations.
But he concluded that wasn’t possible.
“It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies,” he wrote.
The US Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to a request for comment.
Marks oversaw the agency’s rapid review and approval of COVID-19 vaccines and treatments during the pandemic.
Marks is credited with coining the name and concept for “Operation Warp Speed,” the effort under President Donald Trump to rapidly manufacture vaccines while they were still being tested for safety and efficacy.
The initiative cut years off the normal development process.
Despite the project’s success, Trump repeatedly lashed out at the agency for not approving the first COVID shots even sooner.
Trump told confidants after his 2020 loss that he would have been re-elected if the vaccine had been available before election day.
Dr Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, criticised what he called the “firing” of Marks.
“RFK Jr’s firing of Peter Marks because he wouldn’t bend a knee to his misinformation campaign now allows the fox to guard the hen house,” Offit said.
“It’s a sad day for America’s children.”
Former commissioner Dr Robert Califf said the issues raised in Marks’ resignation letter “should be frightening to anyone committed to the importance of evidence to guide policies and patient decisions”.
“I hope this will intensify the communication across academia, industry and government to bolster the importance of science and evidence,” he wrote.
The resignation follows news on Friday that the health department plans to lay off 10,000 workers and shut down entire agencies, including ones that oversee billions of dollars in funds for addiction services and community health centres across the country.
In a post on social media Thursday, Kennedy criticised the department he oversees as an inefficient “sprawling bureaucracy.”
He also faulted the department’s 82,000 workers for a decline in Americans’ health.
Last month, Jim Jones, deputy commissioner for foods, resigned, citing “the indiscriminate firing” of nearly 90 staffers in his division, according to a copy of his resignation letter obtained by the AP.
Marks, who could not be reached for comment, also raised concerns in his letter about “efforts currently being advanced by some on the adverse health effects of vaccination are concerning” as well as the “unprecedented assault on scientific truth that has adversely impacted public health in our nation”.
He went on to detail the historic benefits of vaccinations dating back to George Washington and pointed to the ongoing measles outbreak as proof of what can happen when doubts about science take hold.
“The ongoing multi-state measles outbreak that is particularly severe in Texas reminds us of what happens when confidence in well-established science underlying public health and well-being is undermined,” he wrote.
The measles outbreak, which could go on for months, has now spread to Kansas and Ohio after infecting more than 370 in Texas and New Mexico.
https://thewest.com.au/news/health/top-us-vaccine-official-resigns-criticises-rfk-jr-c-18202413
