RFK Jr.’s vaccine injury clinic could damage NIH hospital, board warns

At a recent meeting of the board that oversees the National Institutes of Health’s Clinical Center Research Hospital, chair Jack Leslie opened with cheerful introductions and gregarious chatter—then diverted from the agenda of the regularly scheduled meeting. He spent the next six minutes delivering a pointed rebuke of Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, warning that his anti-vaccine activities could tarnish the venerable hospital, often called the “house of hope” for patients with rare conditions or those who have exhausted all other options.

在最近一次负责监督美国国立卫生研究院（NIH）临床中心研究医院的董事会会议上，主席杰克·莱斯利（Jack Leslie）以愉快的介绍和热情的寒暄开场，随后偏离了例行会议的议程。他花了接下来的六分钟对卫生部长小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪（Robert F. Kennedy）进行了尖锐的批评，警告称其反疫苗活动可能会玷污这家备受尊崇的医院，该医院常被称为罕见病患者或已尝试过所有其他治疗方案的患者的“希望之屋”。

Leslie took issue with a recent stunt Kennedy had pulled at the hospital, which involved making a surprise appearance for a ribbon-cutting ceremony to open his signature vaccine injury clinic. The ceremony included a panel with people claiming to have been injured by vaccines. They sat behind placards reading “vaccine injured” and spoke with Kennedy and other high-ranking Trump administration officials.

莱斯利对肯尼迪最近在医院搞的一次“噱头”表示不满，肯尼迪在未事先通知的情况下突然现身，为他标志性的疫苗伤害诊所举行了剪彩仪式。仪式包括一个由声称受疫苗伤害的人组成的座谈小组。他们坐在写有“疫苗受害者”字样的标牌后，与肯尼迪及其他特朗普政府的高级官员进行了交谈。

Leslie prefaced his comments by noting that some might prefer he not speak out against Kennedy’s efforts. “But I think that that would be a failing as an advisory board if we were silent,” he said. Leslie also noted that he has no concerns about studying potential injuries from vaccines. “Serious reactions are rare, but real,” he said, and people who believe they’ve been injured should “be taken seriously.”

莱斯利在发表评论前指出，有些人可能希望他不要公开反对肯尼迪的举措。“但我认为，如果我们保持沉默，作为咨询委员会就是一种失职，”他说。莱斯利还表示，他并不反对研究疫苗可能造成的伤害。“严重反应虽然罕见，但确实存在，”他说，并补充道，那些认为自己受到伤害的人应该“被认真对待”。

In fact, the NIH already has a center that studies vaccine injuries, and Kennedy’s splashy new clinic does not come with more funding or clinic space. The hospital’s CEO, Jonathan Green, who sat next to Leslie at the meeting, chimed in to confirm that “the NIH has conducted research on the safety and efficacy of vaccines for decades in the past, and it ongoes.” Green described Kennedy’s vaccine injury clinic as merely a new, individual “protocol” for the hospital.

事实上，NIH早已设有研究疫苗伤害的中心，而肯尼迪大张旗鼓开设的新诊所并没有带来更多的资金或诊疗空间。在会议上坐在莱斯利旁边的医院首席执行官乔纳森·格林（Jonathan Green）插话证实：“NIH几十年来一直在进行疫苗安全性和有效性的研究，并且这项工作仍在继续。”格林将肯尼迪的疫苗伤害诊所描述为医院的一个新的、单独的“方案”。

“The space in which this protocol will be conducted, the vaccine evaluation center inside the clinical center, has been in existence for decades,” Green said. Like all protocols, it needs to undergo rigorous scientific and ethical reviews before it’s implemented at the hospital. Green said the protocol is still under review.

“执行该方案的空间，即临床中心内的疫苗评估中心，已经存在了几十年，”格林说。像所有方案一样，它在医院实施前必须经过严格的科学和伦理审查。格林表示，该方案目前仍在审查中。

None of this was made clear in Kennedy’s ceremony, and Leslie condemned the optics of the event, particularly the signs labeling patients “vaccine injured.” Those patients “must come first,” Leslie said. “They deserve our care and respect and they deserve answers.” But Kennedy does them—and the hospital—a disservice, Leslie argued.

肯尼迪的仪式上并未说明这些情况，莱斯利谴责了该活动的视觉效果，特别是那些给患者贴上“疫苗受害者”标签的标牌。莱斯利说，这些患者“必须放在第一位”，“他们理应得到我们的关怀和尊重，也理应得到答案。”但莱斯利认为，肯尼迪的做法对他们——以及对医院——都是一种伤害。

“The secretary has spent two decades arguing that vaccines are dangerous,” Leslie said. “Those signs announce the conclusion that the research has not yet reached and that the research exists to test. Think about what that means for those patients. If this research finds evidence of harm, many will dismiss it as the work of a secretary who has long argued that vaccines are dangerous. If it finds none, patients will be told that the clinic was a sham. Either way, they’re left with answers no one trusts, and science only helps patients when the public believes it.”

“这位部长花了二十年时间争辩说疫苗是危险的，”莱斯利说。“那些标牌宣布了一个研究尚未得出、且正是为了验证而进行的研究结论。想想这对那些患者意味着什么。如果这项研究发现了伤害证据，许多人会将其斥为一位长期主张疫苗危险的部长的杰作。如果没发现，患者会被告知该诊所是一场骗局。无论哪种情况，他们得到的答案都不会有人信任，而科学只有在公众相信时才能帮助患者。”

Leslie said he feared that the stunt sends a political message that will undermine trust that the hospital has worked to earn and maintain for over 70 years. “The clinical center standing rests on one thing: the confidence of patients, physicians, and the public that the research done here is designed to find the truth, not to confirm a conclusion reached in advance,” he said.

莱斯利表示，他担心这一噱头传递出一种政治信号，将破坏医院70多年来努力赢得并维持的信任。“临床中心的地位取决于一件事：患者、医生和公众对这里所做研究的信心，即研究旨在寻找真相，而不是为了证实预先得出的结论，”他说。

“Trust is slow to build and quick to lose. If people come to believe that research at this hospital can be steered toward a politically desired answer, the damage will not stop at vaccines.” After Leslie’s statement, another member thanked him and made a motion for the board to support the statement. The motion was quickly seconded and, in a voice vote, the board unanimously endorsed the comments.

“信任建立缓慢，但失去却很快。如果人们开始相信这家医院的研究可以被引导向政治上想要的答案，那么这种损害将不仅限于疫苗领域。”在莱斯利的发言后，另一位成员向他表示感谢，并提议董事会支持该声明。该提议很快得到附议，在口头表决中，董事会一致通过了这些评论。