A dozen former FDA leaders lambast claims by the agency's current vaccine chief

1 / 3

Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved

FILE - The Food and Drug Administration seal is seen at the Hubert Humphrey Building Auditorium in Washington, April 22, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana, File)

WASHINGTON – A dozen prior leaders of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration — appointed by Republicans and Democrats alike — issued a scathing denunciation of new FDA assertions casting doubt on vaccine safety.

The former officials say the agency's plans to revamp how life-saving vaccines for flu, COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases are handled — outlined in an internal FDA memo last week — would “disadvantage the people the FDA exists to protect, including millions of Americans at high risk from serious infections.”

“The proposed new directives are not sma