Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has fired Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo, a top official at the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

According to reports, Marrazzo, the former head of the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), filed a whistleblower complaint against the Trump administration for alleged hostility towards vaccines.

Marrazzo had already been demoted in March from her leadership position in the NIAID.

“My termination, unfortunately, shows that the leaders of HHS and the National Institutes of Health do not share my commitment to scientific integrity and public health,” Marrazzo wrote in a statement following her firing, according to CBS News.

“Congress must act to protect scientific research from those who would serve political interests first,” she added.

ADVERTISEMENT

Marrazzo previously called RFK Jr. “dangerous” and said her demotion stemmed from her defense of childhood vaccines.

Last month, Marrazzo gave an exclusive interview with CBS Evening News.

More from CBS News:

The allegations in Marrazzo’s whistleblower complaint focus on Dr. Matthew Memoli, who served as acting NIH director earlier this year before moving to the health agency’s No. 2 post.

Marrazzo claimed Memoli made statements downplaying the importance of vaccines that closely mirrored the views of Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic. In a series of meetings, Memoli argued that “vaccines are unnecessary if populations are healthy,” and that the NIH “should not focus on vaccines,” Marrazzo alleged in her complaint.

Marrazzo told CBS News it was like “hearing the echo of” the vaccine skepticism often promoted by Kennedy. “It was extremely alarming,” Marrazzo said.

Marrazzo received a letter this week from RFK Jr. informing her she had been terminated.

Fierce Biotech shared further info:

Marrazzo and Kathleen Neuzil, M.D., former director of the NIH’s Fogarty International Center, each filed complaints with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel on Sept. 4 alleging that they faced retaliatory actions for expressing concerns about the potential public health consequences of agency actions, like terminating grant funding and clinical trials and opposing vaccines.

Twenty-two days after filing her complaint, Marrazzo was fired by Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., her lawyer said. The former NIAID director had been on administrative leave since Apr. 1, awaiting a supposed reassignment to the Indian Health Service that never came. Neuzil has also been on administrative leave since April.

ADVERTISEMENT

“The Trump administration terminated Dr. Marrazzo for her advocacy on behalf of critical health research and for her support of the overwhelming body of evidence that shows vaccines are safe and effective,” Marrazzo’s lawyer Debra Katz said in the statement. “With her firing, there is no doubt she was removed from her position as director of NIAID in retaliation for her protected whistleblower activity.”

A spokesperson for the agency rebuffed the claims.

“Her characterization is false,” the HHS spokesperson told Fierce Biotech about Marrazzo. “She was not fired because of that.”

The spokesperson also refuted Neuzil’s allegation and declined further comment on both matters.

 

Join The Conversation. Leave a Comment.