Why placebo-controlled vaccine trials should have always been the standard
This week, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued a landmark policy shift. Under the leadership of Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., all new vaccines must now be tested in placebo-controlled clinical trials before licensure.
The announcement, confirmed by outlets including The Washington Post and CNN, marks the first time the federal government has explicitly committed to applying gold-standard scientific principles to vaccine safety evaluation across the board.
Predictably, the backlash was swift—and frankly, baffling.
The idea that vaccines should undergo rigorous testing against inert placebos—a standard expected of nearly every other pharmaceutical product—has enraged some of the most prominent figures in the vaccine establishment.
But their outrage says far more about their allegiance to a broken system than about the policy itself. This isn’t a threat to public health—it’s a long-overdue correction.