Health Care

CDC delays COVID vaccine benefits report

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by Ryan Mancini - 04/09/26 7:14 PM ET

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by Ryan Mancini - 04/09/26 7:14 PM ET

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reportedly delayed the publication of its report detailing the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccine at the behest of its acting director.

Acting CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya delayed the report because of concerns about its methodology, The Washington Post reported Thursday. The report was focused on the vaccine’s effectiveness in dialing down the number of hospitalizations and emergency department visits for healthy adults last winter, two scientists familiar with the decision told the outlet.

The agency’s methodology has long been used to determine vaccine effectiveness for respiratory viruses, the Post wrote. The report is typically published in the CDC’s scientific journal, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).

This methodology was also previously used by the New England Journal of Medicine in a 2021 study on COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness.

The Hill has reached out to the CDC for comment.

The methodology used is a test-negative design, which examines individuals who are sick enough to seek care, be tested and then allow for their vaccination rates to be compared with others who test positive and those who do not, the Post wrote.

Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) spokesperson Andrew Nixon told the Post that the delay was part of a “routine for CDC leadership to review and flag concerns about MMWR papers, especially relating to their methodology, leading up to planned publication.”

Nixon noted that Bhattacharya was concerned about “the observational method used in the study to calculate vaccine effectiveness and the scientific team is working to address these concerns.”

“Dr. Bhattacharya wants to make sure that the paper uses the most appropriate methodology for such a study,” the spokesperson added.

The delay follows HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s amended charter for the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices published Monday. This previous committee voted in favor of recommendations to no longer recommend the COVID-19 vaccine for everyone 6 months and older but to leave it to “individual-based decision making.” A federal judge effectively nullified committee members handpicked by the secretary.

Former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulator Vinay Prasad put new restrictions on the approval of COVID-19 vaccines by Novavax and Moderna. This caused controversy, which grew with the announcement that guidelines on vaccine approval would be more strict given the deaths of 10 children who died “after and because of a” COVID-19 vaccine, Prasad told FDA officials in a memo obtained by the Post.

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