The board chair of the NIH Clinical Center in Bethesda, Md., has admonished HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for opening a vaccine injury clinic at the hospital, The New York Times reported Oct. 16.
In a six-minute opening statement at the board’s most recent quarterly meeting, Chair Jack Leslie said he was “troubled” by Mr. Kennedy’s unannounced ribbon-cutting for the vaccine injury clinic at the NIH Clinical Center on Oct. 5.
“If this research finds evidence of harm, many will dismiss it as the work of a secretary who has long argued that vaccines are dangerous,” Mr. Leslie said, according to the report. “If it finds none, patients will be told that the clinic was a sham. Either way, they are left with answers no one trusts — and science only helps patients when the public believes it.”
He added that “trust is slow to build and quick to lose.” Across the world, trust in science and scientists has fallen compared with previous years, according to a recent survey of more than 140,000 adults across 100-plus countries.
The hospital’s CEO, Jonathan Green, MD, said the new clinic would not require new resources and its research would undergo the same “rigorous scientific and ethical review” as other NIH studies.
“The NIH has conducted research on the safety and efficacy of vaccines for decades in the past, and it is ongoing,” Dr. Green said during the board meeting, according to the Times.
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