COVID Vaccine Study Previously Blocked By CDC Is Out — Here's What It Found

A study on COVID-19 vaccines that was previously blocked by the CDC’s acting director was published in a medical journal. luis velasco/Stocksy A COVID-19 vaccine efficacy study that had previously been blocked by the CDC was published in a scientific journal. Acting CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya blocked the study from appearing in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), prompting months of criticism. The study affirmed that COVID-19 vaccines reduced the risk of hospitalization and severe illness among older adults, reinforcing the safety and effectiveness of vaccination against the disease. A study on COVID-19 vaccines that was delayed and ultimately blocked from publication by the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was published this week in a medical journal. The study, originally slated for publication in an edition of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), concluded that COVID-19 vaccines reduced the likelihood of COVID-19-related hospitalization and severe illness among adults by about half. The research was published on June 23 in JAMA Network Open. The study’s publication arrives months after the Washington Post first reported that it had been blocked in April. Acting CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya questioned the study’s methodology after it had already completed scientific review and received editorial approval. The controversy around the study has extended beyond the findings. Rather than centering on whether the updated vaccine provided protection, much of the debate has focused on the research method used to measure vaccine effectiveness. However, experts say that nothing in the study, nor its design, was significant enough to warrant its being pulled. “There are legitimate reasons to pause — a serious error, a data problem, conclusions that go further than the evidence supports,” said Robert Glatter, MD, attending physician in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Le