Published reports say HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, junior fired the leader of the National Institutes of Health, Jeanne Marrazzo. The termination appeared related to her clashes over vaccine research in the early months of the Trump Administration. APR listeners may remember Marrazzo in her role as a professor and Director of the Infectious Disease Department at the University of Alabama in Birmingham. During the COVID-19 pandemic, APR news aired her comments on coping with the virus and the development of a vaccine, where UAB played a research role.
Marrazzo reportedly was a whistleblower over vaccine research. She filed a complaint last month over alleged efforts by the Trump administration to cancel vaccine research and clinical trials. Marrazzo complained to CBS news that she was removed from her position as a way to silence her opposition to actions taken by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Published reports say Marrazzo received a letter from Kennedy informing her that her role leading NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases was terminated. RFK reportedly did not cite a cause beyond his constitutional authority to fire Marrazzo.
"My termination, unfortunately, shows that the leaders of HHS and the National Institutes of Health do not share my commitment to scientific integrity and public health," Marrazzo said in a statement. "Congress must act to protect scientific research from those who would serve political interests first."
Marrazzo had been in her role since succeeding Dr. Anthony Fauci in August of 2023. She was put on indefinite leave in March and filed a whistleblower complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel in September, alleging illegal retaliation.
Among the stories on APR news, where Marrazzo was quoted, was how in January of 2022, Alabama lawmakers tried to assess the impact of the “omicron” variant of COVID-19 in the upcoming legislative session. House leadership met with the Alabama Department of Public Health to discuss safeguards during meetings. Doctor Jeanne Marrazzo, at that time, studied infectious diseases at UAB. She told APR news how her hospital was more experienced now when it came to handling the heavy burden of new COVID-19 patients, and how people still needed to be on guard…
“This virus is just weird. It’s a weird virus that has been unpredictable, and has done things that we haven’t seen with other respiratory viruses. So, I would really just respect. And this is when you could really use that advice,” she said in 2022.
