Political purposes
“The space in which this protocol will be conducted, the vaccine evaluation center inside the clinical center, has been around for decades,” Green said. Like all protocols, it must undergo rigorous scientific and ethical examinations before being implemented in the hospital. Green said the protocol is still under review.
None of this was clearly expressed at Kennedy’s ceremony, and Leslie condemned the optics of the event, particularly the signs labeling patients as “vaccine injured.” These patients “have to come first,” Leslie said. “They deserve our attention and our respect and they deserve answers. But Kennedy is doing them and the hospital a disservice, Leslie argued.
“The secretary has spent two decades saying vaccines are dangerous,” Leslie said. “These are signs that the research has not yet arrived and that the research exists to test. Think about what this means for these patients. If this research finds evidence of harm, many will dismiss it as the work of a secretary who has long maintained that vaccines are dangerous. If it finds none, patients will be told that the clinic was a sham. Either way, they will be left with answers that no one trusts, and science only helps patients when the public believes it.
Leslie said he feared the stunt would send a political message that would undermine the trust the hospital has worked to earn and maintain for more than 70 years.
“The reputation of the clinical center is built on one thing: the confidence of patients, doctors and the public that the research carried out here is designed to uncover the truth, not to confirm a conclusion drawn in advance,” he said. “Trust is slow to build and quick to lose. If people come to believe that research at this hospital can be directed toward a politically desired answer, the damage won’t stop with vaccines.”
After Leslie’s statement, another member thanked him and moved the board to support the statement. The motion was quickly seconded and, in a voice vote, the board unanimously approved the comments.
Gn Health
