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An individual appointed by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to review the safety of coronavirus vaccines has no medical background, and his research has been widely criticized by experts, a new review of his work demonstrates.
Retsef Levi, a professor of operations research and business at MIT, was selected by Kennedy for the role last year. Levi also serves on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), which advises the agency on matters relating to vaccines.
Like most committee members picked by Kennedy (following his decision to remove all previous members from the panel), Levi is an anti-vaxxer, especially when it comes to COVID-19 vaccines and mRNA shots in general. Levi has wrongly claimed, for example, that COVID shots are the “most failing medical product” in history, and in 2023, he wrote on social media that mRNA vaccines “cause serious harm, including death” — a statement that experts say is completely unsubstantiated.
Indeed, the vast majority of research indicates that COVID and other mRNA vaccines are safe, and could even “revolutionize” vaccines for several ailments and diseases in the future. The technology, far from being young and untested, has been in development for decades.
Any side effects that can occur from mRNA vaccines, including COVID shots, “are in line with the safety record of most other vaccines,” which are also safe, an explainer from Weill Cornell Medicine at Cornell University says.
A review of Levi’s research by The Guardian finds numerous instances of criticism by medical experts. His research on medicine is so flawed, in fact, that more than a dozen scientists and public health experts have said that it fails to meet basic scientific standards.
In one example included in the report, Sharon Alroy-Preis, once the head of Israel’s public health services, told the publication that she and her colleagues invited Levi to discuss research he had done on vaccines and emergency calls. It was evident to the group of experts that Levi’s research was guided by his preconceived views, Alroy-Preis said.
Levi “was not familiar with the way the data is collected and potential wrong interpretations,” she said. “What was more troubling: he didn’t seem to care. … Having no answers to our professional questions, he continued to insist he was right and ‘on to something.'”
“It was clear he came with an agenda,” Alroy-Preis added.
Other medical experts have expressed similar concerns about Levi.
Levi “is a mathematician. He is not somebody who understands the science of vaccinology, immunology, infectious diseases, epidemiology, harm reduction, etc.,” Jessica Malaty Rivera, an epidemiologist and science communicator, told Salon. “He has repeatedly, throughout the last several years, been a contrarian that goes against scientific consensus, making unfounded claims about the safety profile of vaccines.”
This week, ACIP was expected to meet and decide on recommendations relating to mRNA vaccines. However, the panel decided not to do so due to political concerns from the Trump administration, people familiar with the committee’s inner workings told CNN. The panel may meet again in the near future to revive the push against mRNA vaccine, those individuals added.
The ACIP has already issued controversial guidelines on vaccines. In December, the group voted to revise the CDC’s recommended childhood vaccine schedule, significantly lessening the number of shots suggested for infants and children. One expert described the move as being motivated by “baseless skepticism.”
The CDC eventually adopted the guidelines, saying they would make the U.S. more in line with European vaccine recommendations — a move that health experts, including those from countries cited in the agency’s explanation, said was foolish.
“Personally, I do not think this makes sense scientifically,” Anders Hviid, an official in Denmark’s Statens Serum Institute, said at the time the decision was formally made. “Public health is not one size fits all. It’s population-specific and dynamic. Denmark and the U.S. are two very different countries.”
Kennedy, a noted anti-vaxxer, has a history of peddling dangerous disinformation on vaccines. In 2019, he used his influence to campaign against vaccines in Samoa, with devastating results.
The year prior, two infants had died due to tainted vaccines, with an inquiry into the matter determining that the vaccines themselves weren’t at fault, but rather that nurses administering them had been responsible. Despite that finding, fears about vaccines took hold in Samoa, with several anti-vaxxers, including Kennedy, visiting soon after.
During his confirmation hearings, Kennedy insisted that he had not visited Samoa with the intention of stoking fear. “My purpose in going down there had nothing to do with vaccines,” he told senators last year.
Yet multiple emails from the State Department that were unearthed last month demonstrate that Kennedy lied — he had indeed gone to Samoa to raise supposed “awareness” about “health concerns” relating to vaccines. A 2021 blog post written by Kennedy also indicated that the purpose of his visit was to advocate against vaccines.
Due to disinformation promoted by Kennedy and others, the Samoan government restricted MMR vaccines for 10 months. As a result, 74 people died in Samoa that year from measles, the vast majority of them children.
“Lying to Congress about his role in the deadly measles outbreak in Samoa only underscores the danger he now poses to families across America,” read a statement from Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) upon discovery of the Kennedy-related emails.
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