Retsef Levi reveals what unfolded inside ACIP before it was brought to a halt
An insider account of internal tensions, contested decisions, and the questions that were never resolved.
In this interview for Reality Check Radio (RCR), I speak with Retsef Levi, an MIT professor and former member of the Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices (ACIP), who also chaired its Covid-19 vaccine workgroup.
Levi looks back on the final phase of ACIP’s work before it was abruptly halted last month.
He says discussions within his Covid workgroup were wide-ranging, with “no suppression about any topic.”
But efforts to include vaccine injury within the workgroup’s remit met “strong objections” from CDC leadership, with lawyers drawn into a debate over whether it even fell within ACIP’s scope.
Levi is blunt about the health system itself, describing the way vaccine injuries are recognised and managed as “utterly broken,” with no clear diagnostic pathways and patients often left without answers.
In our conversation, I put the key questions to him — what was on the agenda for the cancelled meeting, how decisions were being shaped, and how he responds to claims the process was being constrained or influenced.
I also put to him a policy document prepared by the Covid workgroup — leaked to MD Reports — and ask him to respond to it.
Levi describes the internal dynamics of the committee, the role of workgroups, and the challenge of navigating risk, uncertainty, and public trust.
He also raises unresolved questions about DNA fragments in mRNA vaccines, saying regulators and manufacturers have failed to provide clear, basic data on what was tested and what was found.
More broadly, Levi addresses reports of child deaths caused by Covid vaccination — including data referenced by the FDA but not publicly released — and says it should be made available to the scientific community.
His account sits alongside other perspectives that have emerged in recent weeks, including from former vice-chair Robert Malone, who publicly criticised the government for not defending the credentials of those appointed to ACIP.
Levi says he understands Malone’s frustration, but takes a different view. He does not feel he needs the government to defend his credentials, adding that his track record speaks for itself.
For anyone trying to understand what was unfolding inside ACIP before it was halted, this conversation is worth hearing in full (75 minutes).
FURTHER READING:
Leaked report to federal advisers calls for urgent recognition of Covid vaccine injuries
Court ruling forces cancellation of ACIP meeting
The presentation ACIP never heard
ACIP charter rewritten — sweeping changes reshape vaccine advisory panel