By MES Dispatch staff
The Briefing
• U.S. health officials halted the planned publication of a CDC study on COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness in the agency’s flagship report.
• The study, which found vaccines reduced emergency department visits and hospitalizations among healthy adults by about half, was to appear in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
• The Department of Health and Human Services cited concerns about the methodology used in the analysis as the reason for stopping publication.
• The decision drew attention because similar methods have been used in past vaccine effectiveness studies.
ATLANTA, GA — The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has stopped the planned publication of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study on COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness, citing concerns over the methodology used in the research, officials said.
The study, which had been scheduled for release in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, concluded that COVID-19 vaccination cut emergency department visits and hospitalizations among otherwise healthy adults by about 50 percent during the past winter season.
An HHS spokesman confirmed Wednesday that the report would not be published because agency reviewers identified issues with how the analysis accounted for factors such as prior infection and healthcare-seeking behavior.
Researchers and former CDC personnel noted that the observational approach used in the study is a common method for assessing vaccine effectiveness and has been published elsewhere, though HHS officials did not provide an alternative analysis.
The CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report is considered a primary communication channel for timely public health data, and its editorial decisions have previously drawn scrutiny when publication of scientific findings is altered or delayed.