Andrew Nixon

In an email to NPR, a spokesman for the Health and Human Services Department confirmed reports in the New York Times and Washington Post that plans to release the three studies have been dropped.

The spokesman, Andrew Nixon, says officials stopped plans to publish two Food and Drug Administration studies examining the safety of COVID-19 vaccines,

because the conclusions that they're safe, quote, were not supported by the underlying data, and blocked the shingles vaccine study because it, quote, fell outside the agency's purview.

Critics disagree and say these moves are the latest administration actions that weaken public trust in vaccines.

Rob Stein, NPR News.