NIH Hospital Board Unanimously Rebukes Kennedy Over Vaccine Injury Clinic
Updated
Updated · The New York Times · Oct 16
NIH Hospital Board Unanimously Rebukes Kennedy Over Vaccine Injury Clinic
1 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Oct 16
Summary
The NIH research hospital’s board voted unanimously Friday to back Chairman Jack Leslie’s statement accusing Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of undermining trust in science and politicizing the hospital.
A 6-minute statement centered on Kennedy’s unannounced NIH visit, where he held a ribbon-cutting for a new clinic to study vaccine injuries and a round table with patients who said vaccines harmed them.
Leslie said serious vaccine injuries are rare but real, yet signs reading “Vaccine Injured” and Kennedy’s social-media rollout suggested the research outcome had been prejudged.
He warned the clinic could damage credibility either way: evidence of harm would be dismissed because Kennedy has long criticized vaccines, while a null finding would be branded a sham.
The rebuke framed public trust as the clinical center’s core asset, arguing research helps patients only if physicians, patients and the public believe it is seeking truth rather than confirming a preset conclusion.