The Trump administration has yet again suppressed information upholding the safety of widely used vaccines, this time stopping the dissemination of studies supporting the safety of vaccines for COVID-19 and shingles. Under President Donald Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the federal government has adopted a skeptical approach toward vaccines despite experts’ warnings that discouraging vaccine use will put Americans’ lives and health at risk.
The FDA blocks reports by its scientists concerning COVID-19 and shingles vaccines
The New York Times reported that the Food and Drug Administration has, in recent months, blocked the widespread release of information from several studies on the safety of vaccines for COVID-19 and shingles. In October, FDA scientists were ordered to withdraw two studies on COVID-19 vaccines that had already been accepted by medical journals for publication. In February, FDA scientists were not permitted to submit abstracts for studies of the shingles vaccine Shingrix to a drug safety conference. Collectively, these studies, which were conducted by FDA scientists in consultation with data firms, cost the government millions of dollars. The studies affirmed the safety of the vaccines in question, demonstrating through analyses of millions of patient records that dangerous side effects from the vaccines are rare.
Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson Andrew Nixon confirmed the moves to block the studies while defending the decisions.
“The studies were withdrawn because the authors drew broad conclusions that were not supported by the underlying data,” Nixon wrote in a statement to The New York Times. “The F.D.A. acted to protect the integrity of its scientific process and ensure that any work associated with the agency meets its high standards.”
Vinay Prasad, who recently left his role as the head regulator of vaccines and biotech within the FDA after a series of controversial decisions, didn’t comment about the studies, which were suppressed during his tenure. A source within the Trump administration told The New York Times that Kennedy and FDA Commissioner Marty Makary weren’t part of the decision-making process concerning the suppression of the vaccine studies.
Kennedy’s agenda of vaccine skepticism
While Kennedy may not have been directly involved with the decisions regarding the COVID-19 and shingles vaccine studies, the controversial secretary has regularly made statements, policy changes and personnel appointments that push an agenda of vaccine skepticism. For example, under Kennedy’s leadership, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention changed its recommendations to delay hepatitis B vaccinations for children, and the FDA stopped supporting COVID-19 vaccine boosters for healthy adults and children. Under Kennedy’s leadership, the United States has seen multiple measles outbreaks, largely fueled by unvaccinated people becoming infected with the disease that had previously been declared “eliminated” in the U.S. in 2000.
Kennedy has received criticism and pushback from many sources. Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., has labeled the secretary a danger to public health and called for him to resign or be fired. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks, D-Md., has repeatedly called out Kennedy for his controversial statements and policies. CDC employees have staged protests and resignations in response to unwelcome changes made since Kennedy took charge of the department under which the agency operates. Nevertheless, Trump, who has been heavily criticized for his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, has stood by Kennedy and embraced much of the secretary’s agenda despite objections from medical experts.
As Kennedy establishes an atmosphere of vaccine skepticism and medical misinformation with Trump’s backing, it appears that others within the administration are carrying out this anti-vaccine agenda as well. Now, studies done by government scientists that confirmed the safety of vaccines for two serious diseases have been suppressed in the latest in a long list of examples of administrative interference in medical science.