RFK Jr’s pick to review Covid vaccines authored misleading research, experts say

RFK Jr’s pick to review Covid vaccines authored misleading research, experts say HHS says the MIT professor is ‘more than qualified’ to serve on the agency’s vaccine advisory panel and calls ‘attacks’ on him ‘politically motivated’ The MIT professor who has been appointed by Robert F Kennedy Jr to review the safety of Covid-19 vaccines has failed to meet basic scientific standards in his own research on the topic, according to more than a dozen scientists and public health experts. Retsef Levi, an operations management professor, is a member of the US health department’s vaccine advisory committee which is meeting later this month and – many experts fear – could seek to rollback recommendations on who should receive Covid-19 vaccines. Levi, who holds Israeli and American citizenship, has claimed that Covid-19 vaccines are the “ most failing medical product in the history of medical products”, despite a body of research that has shown they are safe and effective . A modeling study published in 2022 in the prestigious medical journal The Lancet estimated that Covid-19 vaccines saved nearly 20 million lives in the first year they were available. He holds a coveted seat on ACIP, which was once considered the “ international gold standard for vaccine decision-making ” but has faced criticism after Kennedy fired 17 of the group’s voting members – including doctors, immunologists and epidemiologists – and replaced them with individuals who have been criticized for undermining public trust in the safety and efficacy of many vaccines , without any basis in fact . A Guardian review of Levi’s record found that more than a dozen experts have criticized research papers he has authored on the topic for being misleading. Some experts also said they believed Levi, who is not a physician or vaccine expert and now heads ACIP’s special immunizations work group on the Covid-19 , approaches the topic with a pre-determined agenda, instead of a spirit of true scientific inquiry. In a stat...