The acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reportedly delayed publication of a report showing COVID-19 vaccines reduced hospital visits among healthy adults.

What The Report Found

The suppressed study, scheduled for March 19 publication in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, found that between September and December 2025, vaccinated healthy adults reduced emergency department and urgent care visits by 50% and cut COVID-associated hospitalizations by 55%, compared with unvaccinated peers.

Acting CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya cited methodology concerns, the Washington Post reported on Thursday, citing two scientists.

The method in question, a test-negative design, has been used for two decades to measure flu and COVID vaccine effectiveness, and a flu vaccine study using the identical approach was published in the same journal one week earlier.

The CDC did not immediately respond to Benzinga‘s request for comment.

A Pattern Of Policy Shifts

The CDC has separately paused diagnostic testing for 27 infectious diseases, including COVID-19 and rabies, amid agency downsizing under Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. In January, the administration shortened the childhood immunization schedule, a move that drew sharp criticism from the American Academy of Pediatrics and drew legal scrutiny.

A federal judge in March flagged those vaccine policy changes as likely violations of the Administrative Procedure Act, finding the government bypassed the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices without required procedural safeguards.

Political Backdrop

Kennedy, founder of a prominent anti-vaccine advocacy group, has publicly called COVID shots the “deadliest vaccine ever made.” He is now campaigning across competitive midterm states on nutrition and healthcare cost issues, deliberately avoiding the vaccine debate.

Dan Jernigan, former head of CDC’s influenza division and one of three senior leaders who resigned from the agency last summer, told the Washington Post that the blocked report’s findings directly conflict with the administration’s public direction on vaccines, making its suppression difficult to read as a routine scientific review.

Disclaimer: This content was produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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