A top Federal Drug Administration (FDA) official resigned from his post Friday, marking the third high-ranking employee to leave the agency this year amid a worsening outbreak of measles.
Dr Peter Marks, the director for the agency’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, submitted his resignation letter to FDA Acting Commissioner Sara Brenner, citing Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy’s “misinformation and lies” on vaccines.
“It has become clear that truth and transparency are not desired by the secretary,” Marks wrote. “Efforts currently being advanced by some on the adverse health effects of vaccination are concerning.”
Marks joined the FDA in 2012 as the center’s deputy director, before becoming director in 2016. His roles involved enhancing the safety of the country’s blood supply, advancing cell and gene therapy and responding to public health emergencies.
He spearheaded Operation Warp Speed during the COVID-19 pandemic, a federal effort dedicated to vaccinating against the virus. Despite his work, he was offered the chance to resign or be fired, two anonymous sources told The Washington Post.
Earlier this week, the same outlet reported that David Geier, a vaccine skeptic, had been tapped to lead a study of possible links between autism and immunizations.
Marks raised concerns about the undermining of vaccine science, particularly relating to measles outbreaks in the US. Kennedy has said that receiving a measles vaccine is a personal choice, and has boosted the use of vitamin A as a treatment. While vitamin A can be beneficial for someone who has become unwell, experts say it is not a replacement for vaccination to prevent measles.
“It is unconscionable with measles outbreaks to not have a full-throated endorsement of measles vaccinations,” Marks told The Post.
Measles had been eliminated from the US since 2000. Last year, it killed more than 100,000 unvaccinated children in Africa and Asia.
Marks said he worked to address Kennedy’s concerns over vaccine development by hearing from the public and implementing various public meetings and engagements with the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.
“Though rarely followed by a single fever-related seizure, or very rarely by allergic reactions or blood clotting disorders, the vaccine very simply does not cause autism, nor is it associated with encephalitis or death,” Marks said of the measles vaccine. “It does, however, protect against a potential devastating consequence of prior measles infection.”
Though Marks said he will no longer be part of the agency’s mission, he hopes that in the coming years that “the unprecedented assault on scientific truth that has adversely impacted public health in our nation comes to an end so that the citizens of our country can fully benefit from the breadth of advances in medical science.”
Marks is the third top leader at the FDA to resign this year. The agency’s drug chief Patrizia Cavazzoni and human foods chief Jim Jones also left their posts.
Kennedy was confirmed last month following an at-times heated confirmation hearing.
During the hearing, Kennedy downplayed his opposition to vaccines, telling congressional members he is not anti-vaccine but rather “pro-safety.”
“I believe that vaccines play a critical role in health care,” he said.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, an Independent, challenged Kennedy, asking him if he agrees with evidence stating vaccines do not cause autism.
Kennedy responded: “If you show me those studies, I will absolutely —”
Sanders cut him off, saying: “That is a very troubling response because the studies are there. Your job is to have looked at those studies as an applicant for this job.”
