FDA vaccine official ousted : NPR

EMILY KWONG, HOST:

The Trump administration has pressured out the highest vaccine regulator on the Meals and Drug Administration. And on the best way out, Dr. Peter Marks delivered scathing criticism of Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. NPR well being correspondent Rob Stein joins us now with the main points. Hello, Rob.

ROB STEIN, BYLINE: Hey, Emily.

KWONG: All proper. Allow us to begin with who the FDA official is that we’re speaking about right here.

STEIN: Sure. As you stated, his title is Dr. Peter Marks, and he is probably not a family title, however he is an enormous deal within the medical world. He led the FDA’s highly effective Heart for Biologics Analysis and Analysis underneath each Presidents Trump and Biden, regulating every part from cutting-edge gene therapies to vaccines. The truth is, he performed an enormous position in President Trump’s Operation Warp Pace, which produced the COVID-19 vaccines. And as we all know, these vaccines are credited with saving many lives, however in addition they turned very polarizing.

And late Friday, Marks revealed that he had been pressured out of the FDA. NPR obtained a duplicate of his resignation letter, which, as you stated, contained scathing criticism of his new boss, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. It is a unprecedented rebuke.

KWONG: What did Marks say?

STEIN: Dr. Marks made it clear that whereas he tried to work with Kennedy, he simply could not do it due to the secretary’s views about vaccines. Let me learn somewhat of what Dr. Marks says in his resignation letter. Quote, “it has grow to be clear that fact and transparency are usually not desired by the secretary, however reasonably, he needs subservient affirmation of his misinformation and lies.”

Particularly, Marks says he is apprehensive as a result of the nation is preventing an enormous outbreak of measles in Texas and elsewhere. Kennedy has been selling different remedies for measles, and Marks says Kennedy is undermining confidence in protected and efficient vaccines and is, quote, “irresponsible, detrimental to public well being and a transparent hazard to our nation’s well being, security and safety.”

KWONG: Rob, this is not the one transfer the brand new administration has taken about vaccines, proper?

STEIN: That is proper. Marks’ departure is simply the newest high-ranking authorities scientist to be pressured out by the Trump administration, and this comes within the midst of a sequence of steps Kennedy has taken that has set off alarm bells amongst public well being consultants. Kennedy has postponed or canceled essential conferences by unbiased vaccine advisers to the CDC and FDA. He is canceled NIH grants for vaccine analysis, and he simply tapped a well known antivaccine advocate to conduct one more examine of vaccines and autism, despite the fact that that hyperlink has been debunked.

KWONG: Rob, what have been the reactions to Dr. Marks’ departure?

STEIN: You understand, I’ve to say it has been dismay that is been pouring in from medical consultants across the nation. I talked at present with Dr. Paul Offit. He is a vaccine skilled on the College of Pennsylvania who served for years as an FDA adviser and typically clashed with Marks. Let’s take heed to somewhat little bit of what he needed to say.

PAUL OFFIT: I give Peter Marks credit score. I feel he was unwilling to bend a knee to RFK Jr’s misinformation marketing campaign. And now, I feel with Peter Marks gone, it is just like the fox guarding the henhouse. This can be a unhappy day for America’s kids.

KWONG: What does the administration should say?

STEIN: An HHS official launched an announcement that claims, if Marks, quote, “doesn’t need to get behind restoring science to its golden commonplace and selling radical transparency, then he has no place at FDA underneath the robust management of Secretary Kennedy,” unquote.

KWONG: That’s NPR well being correspondent Rob Stein. Thanks, Rob.

STEIN: You guess, Emily.

(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)

Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional data.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by an NPR contractor. This textual content is probably not in its ultimate type and could also be up to date or revised sooner or later. Accuracy and availability could fluctuate. The authoritative report of NPR’s programming is the audio report.