Lawmakers ask Kennedy about blocked COVID vaccine study

News brief

Democratic lawmakers are demanding answers about the suppression of a study on COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) acting director Jay Bhattacharya, MD, PhD.

In a letter sent yesterday to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, ranking members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce said Bhattacharya’s decision to prevent the study from being published in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the CDC’s flagship publication, “appears to be a deliberate effort to suppress evidence of vaccine effectiveness by your hand-selected ideological ally.”

The study, originally scheduled to be published in MMWR on March 19 after scientific review by CDC experts, found that COVID-19 vaccines cut emergency department visits and hospitalizations in healthy adults by roughly half this past winter. Bhattacharya has argued that he blocked the study because of concerns about the methodology, known as test-negative design—a methodology that has limitations but has long been used in vaccine effectiveness research.

“Dr. Bhattacharya’s latest actions reinforce a disturbing year-long pattern of the Trump Administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) obstructing the flow of scientific information that helps to keep Americans healthy,” Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ), Diane DeGette (D-CO), and Yvette Clark (D-NY) wrote, adding that Bhattacharya’s defense of the decision “failed to address why those concerns warranted withholding information from the public that could keep Americans out of the hospital.”

Questions about suppression of beneficial vaccine information

Citing other efforts by Kennedy and HHS to suppress beneficial information about vaccines, the lawmakers asked Kennedy whether he’s had any conversations with Bhattacharya about the study, whether Bhattacharya acted alone, and if any other HHS political appointees have directed the delay or suppression of any study scheduled for publication in MMWR. They also asked if the CDC ever intends to publish the study and what safeguards will be in place to ensure the journal’s scientific independence.

“Because of the ways your actions deliberately misrepresent the risk of vaccinations, many Americans may needlessly forgo immunization, and as a result get sick, hospitalized, or die,” they wrote.

Santa Clara, California, hospital investigates 18 Legionella infections

News brief

Stephanie Soucheray, MA

Early this week, Kaiser Permanente Santa Clara in California confirmed at least 18 cases of infections with Legionella bacteria, all associated with the Santa Clara Medical Center, a San Francisco Bay–Area hospital.

Kaiser said the infections were found during routine enhanced surveillance, but no exposure site has yet been identified.

Water source not determined

Infection with Legionella bacteria can lead to Legionnaires’ disease, a severe type of pneumonia. The bacteria is not transmitted person to person. Instead, infections are acquired when people breathe in spores from contaminated water.

Common sites of transmission include warm water from cooling towers, faucets, hot tubs, and fountains. Elderly people and those with compromised lung function are most at risk for severe infections.

Kaiser has not told the media if the cases are occurring in patients, hospital staff, or visitors, nor has it disclosed if any of the case-patients are currently hospitalized.