The Trump administration on Friday pushed out Peter Marks, the nation’s top vaccine regulator and an architect of the U.S. program to rapidly develop coronavirus vaccines, a move that comes as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. continues his overhaul of the nation’s health and science agencies amid a worsening U.S. outbreak of measles.
Marks, who joined the Food and Drug Administration in 2012 and had overseen its Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research since 2016, was offered the choice to resign or be fired, according to two people who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe a sensitive situation.
He opted to resign, with an effective departure date of April 5.
Marks is leaving his post with a “heavy heart,” he wrote in his resignation letter Friday, which was obtained by The Washington Post. The longtime regulator wrote that he was particularly worried about the measles outbreak in Texas, which “reminds us of what happens when confidence in well-established science underlying public health and well-being is undermined.”
Reached Friday night, Marks confirmed that he was leaving the FDA but declined to comment on the circumstances of his departure.
Kennedy, who in his years as an anti-vaccine activist criticized measles shots and boosted vitamin A as a treatment, is now using his government position to tout the vitamin’s accepted benefits. He has also said that receiving the measles vaccine should be a personal choice. Experts acknowledge that vitamin A can be beneficial after someone has become sickened, but they say it is not a replacement for vaccination to prevent measles.
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“It is unconscionable with measles outbreaks to not have a full-throated endorsement of measles vaccinations,” Marks told The Post.
The FDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Department of Health and Human Services official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss personnel matters, said Marks did not have a “place at FDA” if he did not buy into Kennedy’s vision for the agency.
Two former FDA commissioners praised Marks on Friday night, highlighting his work at the agency. Marks helped conceive of Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration’s program to accelerate the development of coronavirus vaccines, which has been credited with helping end the threat of the covid-19 pandemic. A December 2022 study by the Commonwealth Fund, a health-care foundation, estimated that coronavirus vaccines prevented more than 18.5 million U.S. hospitalizations and 3.2 million deaths.
As head of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Marks led a team of experts who were charged with scrutinizing data on vaccines and other medical products before deciding whether to approve them.
“Peter has presided over an extraordinary period of medical progress, spearheading breakthroughs in cell and gene therapy that helped transform the treatment of pediatric leukemia, sickle cell disease, and certain forms of blindness,” said Scott Gottlieb, who served as FDA commissioner during the first Trump administration.
“Peter’s commitment to bringing the best science and data to the development and availability of lifesaving biomedical technologies, from gene and cell therapies to the Trump Administration’s Operation Warp Speed, has saved countless lives,” said Mark McClellan, who served as FDA commissioner during the George W. Bush administration. “His decade-long leadership at the FDA is a big reason why the FDA is the gold standard for advancing the most innovative breakthrough medicines.”
In his resignation letter, Marks also said that he had been willing to work with Kennedy on the health secretary’s planned efforts to review vaccine safety. Kennedy has repeatedly suggested that there could be a link between vaccines and autism – a claim that has been repeatedly debunked – and called for further study.
“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,” Marks wrote.
HHS recently tapped a vaccine skeptic who has long promoted false claims about the connection between immunizations and autism to conduct a study of possible links between the two, according to current and former federal health officials.
Kennedy, who was grilled on his vaccine views by senators in his January confirmation hearings, had pledged to lawmakers that he would “restore trust” in public health and work to boost vaccine confidence if he was confirmed as the nation’s top health official. While Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana) and other Republicans questioned whether Kennedy would keep that commitment, they ultimately voted to confirm him.
Gottlieb lamented the departure of Marks and other top officials from the health department, warning that it would undermine future efforts to fight diseases and develop therapies.
“We’re failing to appreciate the people and institutions who’ve propelled these remarkable advances, undermining them without offering credible alternatives, and risking the loss of future breakthroughs that many patients are counting on,” Gottlieb said.
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Lena H. Sun, Fenit Nirappil and Rachel Roubein contributed to this report.
This story was originally published at washingtonpost.com. Read it here.