Everything Marty Makary Has Said About Vaccines

Dr. Marty Makary has been confirmed as the new head of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Newsweek has rounded up what he has previously said about vaccines.

Newsweek has contacted the Department of Health and Human Services via email for comment on Makary's behalf.

Why It Matters

While he is generally supportive of vaccines, in the past Makary has opposed blanket vaccine mandates for people other than health care workers.

He has previously made headlines for his comments during the COVID-19 pandemic, which included looking at natural immunity and questioning the requirement for booster shots in younger people.

What To Know

Makary, a Johns Hopkins University surgeon and researcher, was confirmed by the Senate with a 56-44 vote on Tuesday.

Although his comments on vaccines have faced backlash in the past, he has never identified as anti-vax and has never embraced Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s theory that vaccines cause autism, according to the Associated Press (AP).

Earlier this month, he promised to convene the FDA's vaccine advisory committee but has not committed to rescheduling a canceled meeting to discuss the composition of the next seasonal flu vaccine.

Makary has been an advocate for natural immunity to be considered, namely during the COVID-19 pandemic, and for people to have a choice.

In a Fox News op-ed in September 2021, he wrote: "Vaccinate requirements that are flexible and consider natural immunity are reasonable for essential workers, such as health care workers and teachers. But we should allow people to tailor these recommendations with their physicians."

In this piece, Makary promoted natural immunity, saying: "The new vaccine mandates inexplicably ignore the overwhelming science on natural immunity."

"Employers and schools requiring vaccination should recognize natural immunity if they want to be science-based," he added.

But he did also say: "I do not recommend actively or passively getting the infection over vaccination because getting the infection can result in a regrettable severe illness."

Likewise, in a statement to the House COVID committee in May 2023, he wrote: "Nothing speaks more to the intellectual dishonesty of public health leaders than their complete dismissal of natural immunity. They never talked about it."

After citing "200 studies [that] have shown that natural immunity is at least as effective than vaccinated immunity," he criticized how the vaccine was rolled out, especially when supply was scarce before April 2021, and asked, "why were life-saving vaccines being used for second doses in those who already had natural immunity when they could have been used as a first dose to save the life of someone with no immunity?"

"Moreover, if you think health care costs too much, you can thank the [former President Joe] Biden administration's public health officials who increased prices even higher by instituting a vaccine mandate that ignored natural immunity," he added.

In 2022, Makary coauthored a paper that concluded that requiring booster shots in young people could cause more harm than good.

"Booster mandates in young adults are expected to cause a net harm," the paper says.

What People Are Saying

Dr. Reshma Ramachandran of Yale University, who once worked with Makary as part of an informal research group with Makary, told AP: "He has this reputation of being someone who cares about evidence and transparency. The question is whether he's going to preserve and defend the integrity of the agency or is he going to fall in line with the administration."

Dr. Robert Morris of the University of Washington, who published a critique of Makary's 2022 paper, said of it: "They made mistake after mistake and every time it either minimized the vaccine's benefits or exaggerated the risks. This paper really fed the whole notion that the vaccine is worse than the disease."

What Happens Next

Makary will head the FDA, which has undergone many changes under the current administration, under Kennedy.

During his Senate hearing, Makary said "common sense" should be used in health care alongside science.