ATLANTA (AP) — Under heavy scrutiny from medical professionals concerned about Americans’ access to life-saving vaccines, U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s new vaccine advisors began their first meeting Wednesday.
An problematic situation is the first item on the agenda: Kennedy has already declared that COVID-19 vaccinations would no longer be advised for healthy children or expectant mothers, and his new advisers are not expected to vote on the matter. However, the majority of children hospitalized for COVID-19 over the past year were not vaccinated, according to government scientists who provided meeting materials describing vaccination as the best protection during pregnancy.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, COVID-19 has caused between 32,000 and 51,000 deaths and over 250,000 hospitalizations in the United States since last fall, making it a persistent public health concern. According to the CDC’s presentation, children under two and seniors are most at risk for hospitalization, particularly newborns under six months old, who would have some protection if their mother had received vaccinations during pregnancy.
It’s one indication that things aren’t going as planned at the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices’ two-day conference this week.
Another indication: A Virginia-based obstetrician and gynecologist resigned from the committee immediately before the meeting, leaving the panel with just seven members. According to the Trump administration, Dr. Michael Ross left during a routine examination of members’ financial assets.
The American Academy of Pediatrics declared at the beginning of the meeting that it would continue to publish its own schedule of vaccines for children, but now it would do it independently of the ACIP, claiming that the current procedure was no longer credible.
The panel was established over 60 years ago to assist the CDC in deciding when and to whom a wide range of diseases should be vaccinated. The availability of immunizations, such as at pharmacies, and whether insurance covers them are significantly impacted by those recommendations.
Kennedy unexpectedly fired the current 17-member expert panel earlier this month and hand-picked eight replacements, several of whom had anti-vaccine views. Additionally, several of the top vaccination scientists at CDC have left their former posts or resigned, including individuals who oversee data reporting and presentation screening at ACIP meetings.
A well-known Republican senator made a last-minute request to postpone this week’s meeting in response to the incredibly unusual actions. Many of Kennedy’s selected panelists lack the necessary experience and may even harbor predetermined prejudices against new vaccine technology, according to Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a physician who serves as the chair of the chamber’s health committee.
Kennedy defended his expulsion during a House hearing on Tuesday, claiming that the previous panel had served as a model for medical negligence.
Rep. Kim Schrier, a Democrat from Washington state and a pediatrician, told Kennedy: I will hold you accountable for every death caused by a disease that can be prevented by vaccination.
Committee will vote on RSV protections
The agenda for the two-day meeting was suddenly altered last week.
On Wednesday, the program will begin with a discussion about COVID-19 vaccinations. The committee will discuss RSV later in the day, and votes are anticipated. The committee will decide on the use of a preservative in some flu shots and on fall flu vaccinations on Thursday.
Infants may be at risk from respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which frequently causes cold-like symptoms.
U.S. health officials started suggesting two new ways to safeguard babies in 2023: a vaccine for expectant mothers and a lab-made antibody for newborns. Experts say these recommendations probably contributed to a decrease in infant death.
The committee will talk about a newly approved antibody injection from another business, but the precise wording of the decision was not made public before the meeting.
According to Georgetown University public health law expert Lawrence Gostin, who co-authored a recent medical journal commentary criticizing the COVID-19 vaccination decision, “I think there may be a theme of soft-pedaling or withdrawing recommendations for healthy pregnant women and healthy children, even though they are at risk from vaccine-preventable diseases.”
Flu shot recommendations to be debated
The group helps approve the yearly autumn vaccination campaign and often updates recommendations for Americans aged 6 months and up to receive a flu shot at its June meetings.
However, Jason Schwartz, a Yale University health policy expert who has researched the group, said it’s unclear how regular themes will be handled given the recent changes to the committee and federal public health leadership.
There will be debate on Thursday as well. Kennedy and some antivaccine organizations have wrongly claimed that a preservative in a subgroup of flu vaccines is linked to autism, and the advisory panel is scheduled to examine this claim. The CDC prepared by publishing a new report stating that there is no evidence linking the preservative thimerosal to autism or any other neurodevelopmental problems.
According to Gostin, the agenda seems to include both potential conspiracy theories and topics that we would typically anticipate ACIP to discuss. Clearly, the new normal we live in is quite doubtful about the science behind vaccines.
Traditionally, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention receives the committee’s recommendations. In the past, insurance companies have used almost all of them to determine which vaccines to cover.
However, Kennedy has not yet acted on a few suggestions made by ACIP in April, and the committee’s recommendations have been sent to him because the CDC does not yet have a director.
Susan Monarez, the CDC’s nominee for director, is scheduled to appear before a Senate committee on Wednesday.
