FDA Blocks Publication of Research Finding That Covid and Shingles Vaccines Safe and Effective

NEWS & RESEARCH

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has reportedly blocked the publication of taxpayer-funded research affirming the safety and effectiveness of Covid-19 and shingles (Shingrix) vaccines. FDA scientists reviewed millions of patient records and found that serious side effects were extremely rare, yet top officials directed the withdrawal of these studies from medical journals and conferences. While the Department of Health and Human Services maintains the withdrawals were due to unsupported conclusions, critics and former agency officials have labeled the move as "censorship" and "sabotage." These actions coincide with a broader administrative shift cutting research funding and suppressing data that support the safety of vaccines, raising significant concerns among the scientific community regarding transparency and public health. In April, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) blocked a COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness study from being published in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), the agency’s leading scientific journal.

SOURCES: New York Times | Washington Post

ANALYSIS & OPINION

• Dr. Robert Steinbrook, Health Research Group Director at Public Citizen, called the blocking of publication “outrageous and appalling,” undertaken because the studies undercut Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “anti-vaccine agenda.” He called on FDA Commissioner Dr. Martin Makary and Dr. Erica Schwartz, the nominee for CDC Director, to reverse these decisions. “Bona fide public health agencies do not censor bona fide vaccine research.”

• Kayla Hancock, director of Protect Our Care’s Public Health Project, said the censorship of vaccine studies demonstrates that “this administration does not care how many Americans suffer from preventable diseases, so long as the anti-science elements of their base keep supporting them.”

SOURCES: Public Citizen| Common Dreams

HOW TO FIX IT

Federal action:

• Block the nomination of Dr. Erica Schwartz as CDC Director until she publicly endorses publication of these studies.

• Congressional oversight to prevent censorship and ensure scientific integrity at FDA and CDC.