Health Experts Quit Over “Bad Science”
The National Institutes of Health (NIH), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are facing staffing shortages due to “bad science.”
“It’s like a horror movie I’m being forced to watch and I can’t close my eyes,” an unnamed senior FDA official told Common Sense. “People are getting bad advice and we can’t say anything.”
An unnamed NIH scientist told the outlet: “They have no leadership right now. Suddenly, there’s an enormous number of jobs opening up at the highest level positions.”
The publication noted that the people they spoke with agreed to be quoted anonymously, for fear of professional repercussions.
“I used to be proud to tell people I work at the CDC. Now I’m embarrassed,” a scientist at the CDC said.
What’s causing the embarrassment? According to Dr. Marty Makary, a top public-health expert at Johns Hopkins University, “In short, bad science.”
Makary continued:
“The longer answer: that the heads of their agencies are using weak or flawed data to make critically important public health decisions. That such decisions are being driven by what’s politically palatable to people in Washington or to the Biden administration. And that they have a myopic focus on one virus instead of overall health.”
Last month, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, CDC director, said that everyone six months or older should receive the mRNA covid vaccines.
But some health experts are alarmed by the recommendation.
“The public has no idea how bad this data really is. It would not pass muster for any other authorization,” a high-level FDA official said.
Makary said the data submitted by Pfizer and Moderna to receive emergency approval for their COVID-19 vaccines was lacking. Pfizer’s trial included under 1,000 children and didn’t show any efficacy against infection, he said. Moderna’s trial included roughly 6,000 children and reported a 4% reduction in infection.
“It seems criminal that we put out the recommendation to give mRNA covid vaccines to babies without good data. We really don’t know what the risks are yet. So why push it so hard?” a CDC physician said.
“A more honest announcement would have been: ‘We approved the vax for babies & toddlers based on very little data. While we believe its safe in this population, the study sample size was too low to make a [conclusion] about safety. Note that studies were done in kids without natural immunity,” Makary told DailyMail.com.