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


Maryanne,
Thanks for giving Professor Levi a voice; he is brilliant and clear thinking.
This interview lays bare how Pharma operates: Through proxies such as the AAP, they stack the deck of every working group, guideline panel, or advisory committee with Pharma-friendly or Pharma-paid “experts.” No dissenting views are allowed to disrupt the “consensus.”
The game is rigged and the house always wins.
Maryanne. Excellent interview. Dr. Levi is so “uncaptured” it allows for unclouded science. If only he had the power to go along with his intelligence. Pharma’s signature is so pervasive in every element of our “healthcare.” Not only do they control medicine they control the narrative which is totally biased and “normalized.” Society has faith in our regulatory agencies and don’t realize pharma funds them all in a back door fashion. Doctors know nothing about the covid injections or any vaccines for that matter. To suggest going to your doctor for answers, is just another scam. The propaganda is so thorough, people will argue in defence of vaccines and the pharmaceutical industry. It’s all so anger making. It’s blatantly clear the Herculean effort to suppress the injuries is because they want to hide it. In all of the contracts with the manufacturers it is stated that the purchasers had to acknowledge that there was no proof of safety or effectiveness. It’s all so frustrating because the injured not only have to cope with an injury they also have to live with the anxiety of not being acknowledged.