The U.S. Department Health and Human Services stopped the publication of a study that demonstrated the COVID-19 vaccine played a significant role in adults from becoming sick enough to have to go to the hospital. An HHS spokesman confirmed April 22 the decision to halt publication, citing a dispute about the study’s methodology.
The research paper was to appear in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s flagship publication. The CDC is part of the HHS
The study report had cleared CDC’s scientific-review process, which includes dozens of scientists, reported two people familiar with the situation, who spoke on condition of anonymity to the Washington Post for its April 22 [article,](https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2026/04/22/covid-vaccine-report-blocked-cdc-mmwr/ “CDC Won’t Publish Report Showing COVID Shots Cut Likelihood of Hospital Visits,” One way scientists have studied COVID-19 vaccine—and other vaccine— effectiveness is by focusing on sick people who were admitted to hospitals or visited emergency rooms. The researchers check whether patients were vaccinated and then calculate the probability of a positive COVID-19 test among vaccinated patients vs. those who were unvaccinated.
Papers using that methodology have been published—after review by experts in the field—in a number of journals, including the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, as well as {Pediatrics and the New England Journal of Medicine.
Following the same approach, the new study concluded that the vaccine cut Emergency Room visits and hospitalizations among otherwise healthy adults by about half this past winter of 2025-2026. This would destroy some of RFK Jr.’s lies about vaccines.
During the COVID pandemic, Kennedy, Jr tweeted that “COVID shots are a crime against humanity.”
