The scientist, Dr. Fiona Havers, told colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Monday that she no longer had confidence that the COVID and RSV data would be used "objectively or evaluated with appropriate scientific rigor to make evidence-based vaccine policy decisions," according to an email seen by Reuters.

Fiona Havers, who oversaw CDC respiratory virus data, told colleagues she no longer had confidence the data would be used objectively to set vaccine policy.

The 17 members of the CDC's vaccine advisory committee, who were ousted last week, argued their abrupt dismissal has "left the U.S. vaccine program critically weakened."