NIH Board Chair Spends Six Minutes Criticizing New Vaccine Clinic

Jack Leslie, chair of the board overseeing the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center Research Hospital, spent roughly six minutes at a recent regular meeting warning that a new vaccine injury clinic could damage the institution's reputation.

The clinic was established by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Leslie set aside the standard agenda to deliver this critique, stating that silence would be a failure of the advisory board's duty.

Kennedy recently cut a ribbon to open the clinic in a surprise appearance at the hospital. The event featured a panel of individuals who described themselves as vaccine injured. They sat behind placards with that label while speaking with Kennedy and other senior officials from the Trump administration.

Leslie noted that the hospital is often referred to as a house of hope because it treats patients with rare conditions who have exhausted other medical options. He argued that Kennedy's public anti-vaccine activities risk tarnishing that specific standing.

The board chair clarified that his objection is not to scientific research into vaccine harms. He stated that serious reactions are rare but real and that patients who believe they have been injured should be taken seriously.

Jonathan Green, the hospital's chief executive officer, supported Leslie's account of the clinic's modest scale. Green explained that the NIH has researched vaccine safety and efficacy for decades and that this work is ongoing. He described the new clinic as a single protocol within the hospital rather than a major new initiative.

The clinic comes with no additional funding and no extra clinical space. Green and Leslie both confirmed that the NIH already operates a center that studies vaccine injuries, meaning the new facility does not represent a substantial expansion of resources or physical footprint.