CDC director delays report showing Covid vaccine benefits
5 hours ago
- #Vaccine Politics
- #Trump Administration
- #CDC Report Delay
- A Trump administration appointee, acting CDC director Jay Bhattacharya, delayed publication of a CDC report showing COVID vaccine benefits, raising concerns about behind-the-scenes tactics to undermine vaccines.
- The CDC report found that the COVID vaccine reduced emergency room visits and hospitalizations by about 50% for healthy adults last winter, but its release was postponed due to methodological questions about the 'test-negative design' approach.
- Critics, including former CDC official Dr. Fiona Havers, argue the delay is politically motivated, noting the same methodology has been used for decades and was recently applied in a flu vaccine study published without issue.
- Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr., a vocal vaccine critic, has taken actions like ordering the CDC to stop recommending vaccines for certain groups, contributing to resignations and shake-ups within the agency amid broader administration efforts to soften vaccine perceptions.