A COVID vaccine efficacy study that the acting CDC director blocked from the agency's journal was published in an outside journal in June 2026, showing that vaccines reduced severe illness by roughly 50-55% among adults. The blocking raised questions about CDC editorial independence, particularly given the study's methodological soundness confirmed by the outside journal's review process. The CDC's stated concerns about the study's 'methodological approach' were not substantiated by peer review at the alternative publication, which accepted the same research.