Washington (AP) – The senior vaccine official with the Food and Drug Administration resigned and criticized the best health official in the country for allowing a “disinformation and lies” to guide his reflection behind the security of vaccinations.
Dr. Peter Marks sent a letter to the acting commissioner of the FDA, Sara Brenner, saying that he would resign and retire by April 5 as director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.
In his letter, which was obtained by the Associated Press, Marks said that he was “willing to work” to respond to the concerns expressed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on the safety of vaccinations. But he concluded that it was not possible.
“It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the secretary, but he rather wishes a subordinate confirmation of his disinformation and his lies,” he wrote.
AP Audio: the senior vaccine head of the FDA, RFK Jr. criticism for the promotion of disinformation, lie
AP correspondent Julie Walker reports that the senior vaccine resigns from the FDA and the highest head of health in the country.
THE American Department of Health and Social Services did not respond to a comment request.
Marks was offered the choice to resign or be dismissed by Kennedy, according to a former FDA official familiar with discussions, who spoke under the guise of anonymity because he did not have permission to discuss the issue publicly.
Kennedy has a long history of propagation of anti-vaccine disinformation, although during his confirmation audiences of the Senate, he seemed to say that he would not undermine vaccines. He has promised the President of the Senatorial Health Committee not to modify the recommendations of existing vaccines.
Since became secretary, Kennedy has promised to examine the safety of infant vaccinations, despite decades of evidence, they are sure and have saved millions of lives.
Marks supervised the rapid examination and approval of the COVVI-19 vaccine and treatment agency during the pandemic.
Marks is recognized to invent the name and concept of “Operation Warp Speed”, the effort under President Donald Trump to quickly make vaccines when they were still tested for safety and efficiency. The initiative has reduced years of the normal development process.
Despite the success of the project, Trump was unleashed several times at the FDA for not having approved the first shots covers even earlier. Trump told confidants after his 2020 defeat that he would have been re -elected if the vaccine had been available before election day.
Dr. Paul Offer, a vaccination expert at the Philadelphia children’s hospital, criticized what he called the “dismissal” of brands.
“The dismissal by RFK Jr. by Peter Marks because he would not fold a knee to his disinformation campaign now allows the fox to keep the pool,” said Offer. “It’s a sad day for American children.”
The former FDA commissioner, Dr. Robert Califf, said that the questions raised in the resignation letter from Marks “should be frightening for anyone who has embarked on the importance of evidence to guide the policies and decisions of patients.”
“I hope this will intensify communication between the academic world, industry and the government to strengthen the importance of science and evidence,” he wrote.
The resignation follows the news that HHS plans to dismiss 10,000 workers and close entire agencies, including those that supervise billions of dollars of funds for drug addiction services and community health centers across the country.
In an article on social networks Thursday, Kennedy criticized the department he supervises as an ineffective “sprawling bureaucracy”. He also criticized the 82,000 workers from the ministry for a drop in the health of the Americans.
The resignation is the last blow to the besieged health agency, which has been shaken for weeks by layoffs, pensions and a chaotic process of returning to the office who left many staff without permanent offices, offices or other supplies. Last month, Jim Jones, The assistant commissioner of the FDA for food, resigned, citing “the blind dismissal” of nearly 90 members of the staff of his division, according to a copy of his letter of resignation obtained by the AP.
Marks, who could not be joined to comment, also raised concerns in his letter concerning “the efforts currently put forward by some on the undesirable effects of vaccination concerning vaccination” as well as “the unprecedented aggression on the scientific truth which had an impact on public health in our country”.
He then detailed the historical advantages of vaccinations dating from George Washington and underlined the epidemic of measles in progress as proof of what can happen when doubts about science settle.
“The epidemic of measles in several states which is particularly serious in Texas reminds us of what is happening when confidence in a well-established science underlying public health and well-being is undermined,” he wrote.
THE measles epidemic, What could last for months, is now spreading to Kansas and Ohio after having shorted more than 370 in Texas and New Mexico.
If it strikes other communities not vaccinated across the United States, as could now be the case in Kansas, the epidemic could last for a year and threaten the country’s status as having eliminated local spread of vaccine preventions, said public health experts.
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Casey reported to Boston. Perrone has reported to Washington, DC
