When Good Results Are Inconvenient, for RFK Jr

The Politics of Vaccine Effectiveness Are Killing Americans

In the world of science, a number should just be a number. But today it was announced that the CDC will not release the COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness (VE) data in their Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) at the direction of… well, it’s actually hard to tell who made the terminal decision to not release the data at all.

The CDC under RFK Jr has had no director for months. Not since Dr. Susan Monarez was fired for refusing to ‘rubber stamp’ RFK Jr’s requests (i.e. push through RFK Jr’s anti-vaccine agenda without scientific review). Along with her several top officials left the CDC taking collectively with them over 100 years of hard-earned experience in public health management and research.

Then Jay Bhattacharya was named CDC director, but there was another issue, he was already director of the NIH where over 1,100 PhDs scientists have left. The remaining scientists routinely walk out of his in-person meetings when his speeches veer into pseudoscience nonsense which he calls “keeping an open mind.”

Note to Jay: fanciful ideas and no data are what most people call ‘science fiction,’ not a roadmap for running the largest research agency in the world.

It is likely that Jay Bhattacharya is still the person blocking the release of this data, possibly at the behest and certainly with the blessing of RFK Jr, who is his boss.

The CDC originally said it was Jay blocking the MMWR release because he was “concerned with how vaccine effectiveness was calculated.” I want to remind you that Jay Bhattacharya is not a scientist; his PhD is in economics. He authored the “Great Barrington Declaration” during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, which, if followed, would have killed up to 2.5 million MORE Americans according to best estimates. He did finish medical school, but he never did a residency or practiced clinical medicine.

Well, Jay, and Robert — scientists and “gold standard science” have methods to address your concerns.

Let’s go through a list of questions that would potentially explain ANY logical reason for you to block vaccine effectiveness data for a virus that still causes significant death and disability, paid for already by the US taxpayer, and vetted and prepared by scientists.

Q: Was vaccine effectiveness calculated in a different way than it ever has been before?

A: No.

There is standard equation for vaccine effectiveness. It is used routinely around the world across different groups of people and populations. It is well accepted and considered the current gold standard.

Q: Was the way we collected hospitalization data, illness, or death changed?

A: No.

Q: Did Jay or Robert put forth what their concerns were about this commonly used approach for understanding vaccine effectiveness?

A: No. They have failed to provide any data-based explanation for blocking this report other than “I don’t like it.”

Q: Did Jay or Robert present, discuss, or publish a better way to calculate vaccine effectiveness and show data supporting its superiority in understanding the impact of this vaccine on protecting life and health?

A: No, of course they didn’t.

Scientists love a good debate, it’s what we live for. Scientists thrive on finding ways to improve and do things better. However, that requires a demonstration that it IS better.

If you are thinking about getting a new car, but your older car still runs, you still test drive the new car. You don’t trade in a good car for a newer car with no engine just because someone ‘said so.’ You do your research; in this example, you would test drive the new car to see how it performs.

But what CDC and HHS are doing is even worse. They’re telling us there’s a car they want us to use; they don’t like old car and took it away, but where is the new one? Forget test driving — they haven’t even provided a new car.

We have no car at all now. Instead, we have to walk. We’ve been left with no data.

As of recent weeks, Robert and Jay have been on parade in front of congress, repeating the same lines and lies and pointing to the concept of “gold standard science,” attempting to look productive while rearranging the deck chairs on the rapidly sinking ship of what was once a globally revered scientific system.

All of this at our expense. We’ve paid for this. They won’t release the data. They won’t explain themselves.

What I think is happening is that they are terribly afraid of real “gold standard science” because it tells a story they don’t like. It shows that they are wrong and reveals them as the charlatans they are. So, in their roles at the helms of these great agencies, they’re actively blocking us from seeing it while they scramble for excuses as to why.

Who suffers under that type of egomaniacal self-centered leadership? We do. All of us. Our doctors can’t give us good advice when they’re unable to see the data and we can’t puzzle through the data ourselves to make our own decisions.

In case you were wondering, the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine for last year’s (2025-2026) season showed a great efficacy rate (for a respiratory virus vaccine) of 50% reduction in emergency room visits and hospitalization in adults. This data is, however, hearsay from those scientists on the inside leaking the numbers. These scientists are doing their best to get the word out, letting us know it was good.

If it were up to Jay Bhattacharya and RFK Jr., you’d never have access to that information. Information critical for making a personal decision about your health, and your doctors wouldn’t have the data to counsel you on making the best decisions.

Why are we paying for them to continue to exercise this kind of abuse on the US population? Emergency room visits and hospitalization are expensive; wouldn’t you want an easy way to be able to avoid that?

I would think so, especially now that they’ve made significant cuts to Medicaid as well.

Note to Readers: Thanks so much for hanging in there during my writing hiatus. I was deeply consumed with my day job steering the ship/keeping the engine running there and am excited to get back to providing you with comprehensive and timely updates. See you soon!