NIH whistleblower details clash over childhood vaccines with Trump administration: "We became inconvenient"

Source: CBS News

Updated on: September 8, 2025 / 9:54 PM EDT


Washington — A former top National Institutes of Health leader who says she was removed from her position after a dispute with Trump administration officials detailed the internal clashes at the elite medical research agency Monday, and warned of an agenda that poses "a substantial and specific danger to public health and safety."

Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo described in an exclusive interview with CBS News being silenced when she and her colleagues tried to oppose efforts pushed by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to cancel vaccine research and clinical trials.

"Ultimately, we were disregarded," said Marrazzo, who previously led the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, or NIAID. "We became inconvenient."

Marrazzo, who filed a whistleblower complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel last week alleging illegal retaliation, was placed on leave and reassigned in April. She had been in the role since August 2023, succeeding Dr. Anthony Fauci, who had served as NIAID director for nearly four decades, as well as chief medical adviser to former President Joe Biden. "It was not unexpected," Marrazzo said of her removal. "It was still a body blow."

Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nih-whistleblower-marrazzo-trump-rfk-vaccines/