Acting CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya Called A Vaccine Study Design 'Crap.' What The Test-Negative Design Is And How We Know Whether Vaccines Measured With It Are Effective

InnovationScienceActing CDC Director Jay Bhattacharya Called A Vaccine Study Design 'Crap.' What The Test-Negative Design Is And How We Know Whether Vaccines Measured With It Are EffectiveByJohn Drake,Contributor.Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. John Drake is a professor at the University of Georgia. Follow AuthorMay 11, 2026, 02:46pm EDT--:-- / --:--This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.This voice experience is generated by AI. Learn more.WASHINGTON, DC - MARCH 5: Jayanta Bhattacharya, U.S. President Donald Trump's nominee to be Director of the National Institutes of Health, speaks at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on Capitol Hill on March 5, 2025 in Washington, DC. A Stanford University professor, Bhattacharya spoke out about shutdowns and vaccine policies during the COVID-19 pandemic. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)Getty ImagesAs The Washington Post first reported, Jay Bhattacharya, the acting CDC director, recently blocked a routine study on COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness from publication in the agency’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The study found that this season’s vaccines reduced hospitalizations among healthy adults by roughly half. His objection was methodological. Now, Science reports that at an April workshop convened by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Bhattacharya called the study’s methodology “crap” and “logistically ridiculous,” adding: “Any econometrician that you show this method to will go, are you freaking kidding me?”The method is called the test-negative design, and it has been used to estimate vaccine effectiveness against influenza and other respiratory viruses for two decades.The statistical questions Bhattacharya raises are not frivolous. But the scientific literature on this method is far more developed than his remarks suggest.How the Test-Negative Design WorksThe...