High FDA Vaccine Official Resigns, Calls Out RFK Jr.’s ‘Misinformation’

Dr. Peter Marks, a veteran official on the Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) who helped set up the U.S. effort to quickly develop Covid-19 vaccines, resigned on Friday.

The Wall Avenue Journal reported that Marks is stepping down amid stress from the Trump administration and as Well being and Human Providers Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reshapes federal public well being businesses and is poised to remove 10,000 staff, with the FDA and the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention anticipated to undergo a lack of 20 p.c of their employees members.

“It has change into clear that reality and transparency aren’t desired by the Secretary, however somewhat he needs subservient affirmation of his misinformation and lies,” Marks wrote in his resignation letter. “My hope is that throughout the coming years, the unprecedented assault on scientific reality that has adversely impacted public well being in our nation involves an finish.” Marks submitted his resignation after a division official gave him the choice to resign or be fired, sources instructed WSJ.

The information arrives amid an alarming outbreak of the measles within the U.S. As of Friday, Texas reported 400 instances related to the outbreak, New Mexico reported 44, and Oklahoma reported 9, per CNN.

When talking to The Washington Publish, Marks mentioned his concern over the outbreak in Texas, which “reminds us of what occurs when confidence in well-established science underlying public well being and well-being is undermined.”

Kennedy has lengthy been an outspoken criticism of vaccines, which he has falsely linked to autism, and beforehand petitioned the FDA to revoke authorization for life-saving Covid-19 vaccines. Through the pandemic, he in contrast public well being measures to the Nazi Holocaust and falsely claimed that “Covid-19 is focused to assault caucasians and Black individuals.”

In February, Kennedy dismissed the severity of a measles outbreak in South Texas, that noticed the primary loss of life attributed to the lethal virus within the U.S. since 2015. The  Well being Secretary has additionally closely touted treating the measles with vitamin A, whereas downplaying using vaccines.

When talking to the Publish, Marks mentioned, “It’s unconscionable with measles outbreaks to not have a full-throated endorsement of measles vaccinations.”