FDA's top vaccine official, Peter Marks, resigns in rebuke to RFK Jr.

The Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine official, Peter Marks, says he is resigning because he believes Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy is putting “his misinformation and lies” ahead of good science.

Dr. Marks, the director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said he was ready to address Mr. Kennedy’s concerns about vaccine safety through public meetings and engagements with the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

“However, 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,” Dr. Marks wrote Friday to Sara Brenner, the acting FDA commissioner.

“My hope is that during the coming years, 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,” he wrote.

Dr. Marks is a longtime veteran of the agency who rose to prominence during President Trump’s first-term effort to develop a COVID-19 vaccine in record time, Operation Warp Speed.

His resignation is the starkest sign of change around vaccine research and development since Mr. Kennedy took over as health secretary.

Mr. Kennedy is leading a popular effort to root out harmful additives and processed foods in Americans’ diets. Yet his history of vaccine skepticism has drawn criticism from multiple corners, particularly amid a measles outbreak in parts of the U.S.

Some health experts have been alarmed at Mr. Kennedy’s study of a possible link between vaccines and autism, and they’ve criticized his promotion of Vitamin A as a treatment for measles instead of placing louder emphasis on vaccination.

A New York Times report said Dr. Marks was told he could quit or be fired.

“Peter Marks was willing to work with the new administration — but there was no appetite on the part of Mr. Kennedy to agree to disagree. Bad decision. Get your vaccinations and hold on to your principles,” said Peter J. Pitts, president of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest and a former associate commissioner at the FDA.

The Washington Times reached out to HHS for comment on Dr. Marks’ resignation letter.

Dr. Marks said U.S. support for vaccination goes back to President George Washington, when he inoculated his troops against smallpox.

“Efforts currently being advanced by some on the adverse health effects of vaccination are concerning,” Dr. Marks wrote, pointing to the measles outbreak in western Texas and elsewhere. “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.”