Study on Covid-19 Vaccine Effectiveness Halted
Health officials in the U.S. have decided to stop the publication of a study that was assessing whether the Covid-19 vaccine helps prevent adults from becoming severely ill and needing hospitalization.
A representative from the Department of Health and Human Services confirmed this decision on Wednesday, mentioning issues with the study’s methodology as the main reason.
Initially, this research paper was meant to be featured in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, a leading publication from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on March 19. According to current and former CDC staff, the paper had already passed a scientific review and received approval from the publication’s editors.
Andrew Nixon, the HHS spokesperson, stated, “Scientific reports are routinely reviewed at multiple levels to ensure they meet the highest standards before publication. The MMWR’s editorial assessment identified concerns regarding the methodological approach to estimating vaccine effectiveness, so the manuscript was not accepted for publication.”
Nixon had earlier mentioned that the delay stemmed from concerns raised by Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, the acting CDC director, about how the vaccine’s effectiveness was calculated. Reports suggest that the authors of the study were not willing to change their methodology.
Researching Covid-19 vaccine effectiveness often involves studying patients who were hospitalized or went to emergency rooms, assessing whether they were vaccinated, and comparing positive COVID-19 test rates between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals.
Previous studies employing this method have been published in several reputable journals, such as Pediatrics and the New England Journal of Medicine.
The halted study reportedly found that the vaccine reduced emergency room visits and hospitalizations among generally healthy adults by approximately half last winter. However, HHS officials did not specify why they had issues with this methodology, only suggesting that factors like prior infections and patient behavior could skew results.
Dr. Fiona Havers, an Atlanta-based physician and former CDC employee, noted that many researchers have successfully used this approach, and the methodology should adequately address various factors. She argued that differences in care-seeking behavior should not undermine the results, particularly as many Americans have faced prior COVID-19 infections.
Dr. Havers acknowledged no study design is flawless but expressed concern that HHS has not proposed an alternative method that would realistically gauge vaccine effectiveness in real-time.
During Donald Trump’s presidency, public health advocates expressed fears that political appointees were interfering with MMWR publications. After Trump returned to office last year, MMWR publication was briefly suspended and has since been diminished compared to its earlier format.
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin raised concerns about the importance of MMWR for healthcare professionals who rely on it for accurate public health information. He issued a statement condemning any attempts to silence scientists and health professionals about preventing hospitalizations, stressing that political interference could have serious consequences for public health.
