A senior health official in the US, once seen as a key figure protecting the FDA from political influence on life-saving vaccine approvals, has resigned suddenly, blaming health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for spreading “misinformation and lies.”
Dr. Peter Marks, the FDA’s top vaccine official, played a crucial role in developing and distributing Covid-19 vaccines during Donald Trump’s first term. He was praised for his efforts in the Operation Warp Speed initiative, which quickly got vaccines to the public.
However, reports from the Wall Street Journal and New York Times reveal that Marks was given the choice to resign or face being fired by an official from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Marks chose to resign. The FDA, where he worked, is a key part of the HHS.
In his resignation letter, Marks criticized Kennedy, saying: “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 also issued a strong warning: “Undermining confidence in well-established vaccines that have met the high standards for quality, safety and effectiveness… is irresponsible, detrimental to public health and a clear danger to our nation’s health, safety and security.”
Marks’s departure follows reports that Kennedy has brought in vaccine skeptic David Geier to lead a study within HHS about supposed links between vaccines and autism—claims that have been debunked for years.
Kennedy, who claims not to be anti-vaccine, has spent years casting doubt on their safety and effectiveness. In 2021, Kennedy’s group even pushed to revoke emergency approval for Covid-19 vaccines, claiming the risks outweighed the benefits. Studies later showed this claim was false, with a report from the Commonwealth Fund showing the vaccines saved 3.2 million American lives and prevented over 18 million hospitalizations.
Kennedy won support from nearly all Republican senators during his confirmation process, including Dr. Bill Cassidy from Louisiana, by promising not to alter the FDA’s vaccine approval system. However, Marks, who has been with the FDA since 2012, was in charge of that very system.
An HHS official commented on Marks’s resignation: “If Peter 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.”
Marks’s resignation comes just one day after the Trump administration announced the layoff of 10,000 HHS employees. In a YouTube video, Kennedy claimed his office was facing resistance from “defiant bureaucrats” blocking access to “closely guarded databases” that could reveal the dangers of certain drugs and medical treatments.
