There is yet another scandal surrounding the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to reports, the agency’s head, Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, blocked the publication of a study confirming the high efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines. The study found that vaccination during the past fall and winter roughly halved (reduced by 50%) the need for hospitalization and emergency care among infected adults.
Despite the paper passing all internal peer reviews and being scheduled for publication in the agency’s flagship journal, the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report), the authors received an official rejection on Tuesday. A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) stated that the reason was “methodological flaws,” though independent experts and former high-ranking officials have called this argument absurd.
The study relied on the so-called “test-negative” design, a methodology considered the gold standard for decades in studying the effectiveness of vaccines against seasonal respiratory viruses, including influenza and RSV. Experts characterize this as “aggressive political interference in science,” linking it to the new policies implemented by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Recently, the CDC, acting on directives from the HHS, has already altered several recommendations. COVID vaccination is no longer recommended for pregnant women and children, while the universal recommendation for individuals aged 6 months and older has been replaced by “individual clinical decision-making.” Former leading CDC specialists, who resigned in protest, state that such decisions contradict scientific evidence and jeopardize public trust in healthcare institutions.
