Top US vaccine official busts RKF Jr's 'lies, misinformation' in resignation letter after being forced to quit

A top vaccine official at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) was forced out of his job, reported US media. Peter Marks, the senior US health official with the Food and Drug Administration, has quit and criticized the nation’s top health official for allowing “misinformation and lies” to guide his thinking behind the safety of vaccinations.

Dr. Peter Marks sent a letter to Acting FDA Commissioner Sara Brenner on Friday saying that he would resign and retire by April 5 as director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research.

In his letter, obtained by The Associated Press, Marks said he was “willing to work” to address the concerns expressed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about the safety of vaccinations. But he concluded that wasn’t possible. “It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies,” he wrote.


ALSO READ: Double trouble for Pete Hegseth? US Defense Secretary under fire for another controversy amid chat leak row

Peter Marks resigned or was fired?

Dr Peter Marks served as the FDA’s top vaccine official. He had been lauded by Donald Trump during the US president’s first term for his role in Operation Warp Speed, the initiative that developed, manufactured and helped distribute the Covid-19 vaccines.

According to multiple media reports, Marks had been given the choice to resign or be fired by a Health and Human Services (HHS) department official. He chose to resign. The FDA is a key federal agency within HHS. “Undermining confidence in well-established vaccines that have met the high standards for quality, safety and effectiveness that have been in place for decades at FDA is irresponsible, detrimental to public health and a clear danger to our nation’s health, safety and security," his letter read.

In a statement to the BBC, the HHS responded that if Mr Marks "does not want to get behind restoring science to its golden standard and promoting radical transparency, then he has no place at FDA under the strong leadership of Secretary Kennedy".

ALSO READ: 'I am almost done...': Elon Musk to quit DOGE and leave Washington DC after $1 trillion in US govt cuts

In his letter, which was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, Mr Marks said he was leaving with a "heavy heart" and noted he was concerned about the growing measles outbreak in Texas.

"[It] reminds us of what happens when confidence in well-established science underlying public health and well-being is undermined," Marks wrote, according to the outlets that obtained the letter.

Peter Marks has served as the director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research within the FDA since 2016. He has been with the FDA since 2012. Kennedy, who leads the HHS, which oversees the FDA, is a well-known vaccine sceptic who has a history of spreading health information that scientists say is false.

“This is what happens when you hire a 20 year virulent anti-vaccine activist who continues to deny the science that vaccines don’t cause autism, and put him in a position of influence,” Dr Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a vaccine adviser to the FDA, told CNN, referring to Kennedy. "This is not how we make America healthy," Dr Ashish Jhan, dean of Brown University School of Public Health, said reacting to Dr Marks' exit.

ALSO READ: Melania Trump's US citizenship once again sparks controversy after Maxine Waters' 'deportation' comment. Here's why

His resignation comes at a time when US is battling a measles outbreak with cases reported in 18 states, the epicenter of which is in Texas and New Mexico. Two measles-related deaths have been reported so far, one in each of Texas and New Mexico. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the vast majority of cases have been in people who are either unvaccinated or have an unknown vaccine status.

In his resignation letter, Marks commented on the measles outbreak and said: "Reminds us of what happens when confidence in well-established science underlying public health and well-being is undermined."

US Health dept announces massive job cuts

Earlier this week, Kennedy announced plans to restructure the HHS, in part by cutting 10,000 employees, including those working at the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The move - along with voluntary resignations - will shrink the department's workforce of 80,000 to about 60,000, the White House estimates.

ALSO READ: 'No, thank you': No one wants to talk to Usha Vance, at least not in Greenland

HHS also is consolidating its 28 agency divisions into 15 new sections, including a new Administration for a Healthy America, to help carry out Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again agenda.

"We aren't just reducing bureaucratic sprawl," Kennedy said in a statement on Thursday. "We are realigning the organization with its core mission and our new priorities in reversing the chronic disease epidemic."

HHS - a department with a $1.8 trillion budget that oversees 13 agencies - plans to lay off 3,500 full-time employees at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and 2,400 workers from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, according to the White House.

The administration is also cutting 1,200 employees from the National Institutes of Health, it said. The remaining employees will be cut from other agencies; officials said FDA inspectors and CDC infectious diseases employees would not be affected.

(With AP inputs)