Dr. Peter Marks, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) top vaccine official, has resigned.

Marks, who led the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), cited Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s stance on vaccines.

“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,” Marks wrote in his resignation letter to acting FDA Commissioner Sara Brenner.

The Hill reports:

The top FDA official also criticized Kennedy on Friday over “undermining” the confidence in the vaccine against measles as the country faces an outbreak of the airborne viral disease. There are at least 400 confirmed cases in Texas.

“Undermining confidence in well-established vaccines that have met the high standards for quality, safety, and effectiveness that have been in place for decades at FDA is irresponsible, detrimental to public health, and a clear danger to our nation’s health, safety. and security,” Marks wrote in the letter that was obtained by The New York Times.

ADVERTISEMENT

Since taking the helm of HHS, Kennedy has worked to reshape the outlook department, looking to dismiss 10,000 workers as part of a restructuring effort, while another 10,000 would be cut through buyouts and early retirements.

The HHS secretary defended the upcoming cuts, saying on The Hill’s partner NewsNation that the agency is “not cutting front-line workers, we’re cutting administrators, and we’re consolidating the agency to make it more efficient.”

“My hope is that during the coming years, the unprecedented assault on scientific truth that has adversely impacted public health in our nation comes to an end so that the citizens of our country can fully benefit from the breadth of advances in medical science,” Marks said in the 2-page letter.

Per NBC News:

Kennedy, an anti-vaccine activist, has been critical of the Covid vaccines, and filed a citizens petition in 2021 requesting that the FDA revoke the authorization of the vaccines. That same year, he called described the Covid vaccine as the “deadliest vaccine ever made.”

Kennedy has also worked to undermine confidence in the measles vaccine amid the largest outbreak the United States has seen since 2019. While he’s said vaccines protect children from the measles, he’s also said the decision to vaccinate is a “personal” one.

In a recent interview with Sean Hannity on Fox News, Kennedy said the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine “does cause deaths every year.”

There have been no deaths linked to the MMR vaccine in healthy people, according to the Infectious Disease Society of America. The vaccine is not recommending for immunocompromised people.

“The ongoing multistate 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,” Marks wrote in his resignation letter.

Read the full resignation letter:

ADVERTISEMENT

 

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.