FDA’s Top Vaccine Official Forced Out
In his resignation letter, Dr. Peter Marks cited ‘misinformation and lies’ from Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr.
The Food and Drug Administration’s top vaccine official has been pushed out, according to people familiar with the matter.
Dr. Peter Marks, who played a key role in the first Trump administration’s Operation Warp Speed to develop Covid-19 vaccines, stepped down Friday. He submitted his resignation after a Health and Human Services official earlier in the day gave him the choice to resign or be fired, people familiar with the matter said.
“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 in a resignation letter referring to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The letter was addressed to acting FDA Commissioner Sara Brenner. His resignation takes effect April 5, the letter said.
“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,” an HHS official said.
Marks, who has been with the FDA since 2012, has led its division responsible for overseeing vaccines, biotech drugs and blood products since 2016. Part of the division’s role is making sure vaccines work and are safe.
During the pandemic, he was a member of the team that streamlined regulations and pooled government funding to speed development of Covid-19 vaccines.
He had wanted to stay in his position, though his support of immunizations conflicted with Kennedy’s skepticism, people familiar said.
Marks offered to work with Kennedy on holding a series of public meetings on vaccines with the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, and he sent a memo to Kennedy proposing listening sessions on immunizations, one of the people said.
“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,” he wrote in the letter.
Marks will leave the FDA as Kennedy has begun to reshape the Health and Human Services Department, including by making plans to lay off 10,000 employees and close offices.
Kennedy is a longtime critic of vaccines who has questioned their safety and effectiveness. During his confirmation process, Kennedy played down his opposition and promised Sen. Bill Cassidy (R., La.) that he wouldn’t change systems for approving vaccines or monitoring their safety—systems that Marks oversaw.
Since taking the helm of the department, Kennedy has begun collecting names of potential new members to put on a committee that recommends which vaccines Americans should get and when, The Wall Street Journal reported. His department has also paused vaccine contracts.
He recently faced criticism for dismissing the measles outbreak in Texas and New Mexico, at first calling the outbreak “not unusual.” He then said HHS was making combating the outbreak a priority, while also saying vaccination is a “personal” decision.
Marks is the third top leader at the FDA to leave this year, after the departures of drug chief Dr. Patrizia Cavazzoni and human foods chief Jim Jones. On Tuesday, Dr. Marty Makary, a former Johns Hopkins surgeon, was confirmed as commissioner.