(Recorder of Georgia) During a meeting in Atlanta on Wednesday, members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices announced that the agency will review its existing recommendations for childhood vaccination regimens and Hepatitis B vaccinations.
Meeting three times a year, the group usually receives little public attention. This meeting, however, is the first since the little-known committee gained national attention when U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. fired all 17 of its members and replaced them with a slate of eight hand-picked nominees, many of whom are viewed as vaccination doubters.
The American Medical Association was among the medical experts who voiced their displeasure with Kennedy’s selection of the new committee members, claiming that it was done in a way that was opaque and lacked adequate screening to guarantee that the members had the knowledge required to recommend vaccines to safeguard American health.
In a statement, AMA President Bobby M. Mukkamala urged the Administration to reevaluate the expulsion of the 17 ACIP members with extensive knowledge of vaccines so that doctors can still trust the group’s recommendations.
Following the expulsion of the previous committee members, six past chairs of the ACIP also wrote an opinion piece cautioning that vaccine access may change significantly if pertinent scientific knowledge is not preserved.At a rally outside the center on Wednesday, CDC supporters held balloons that read “Restore ACIP.” Georgia Recorder/Jill Nolin
Additionally, Kennedy’s pledge to Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy before to the secretary’s confirmation in February was directly at odds with the action. Kennedy promised, according to Cassidy, to keep the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention unchanged.
Cassidy, a physician who voted in favor of Kennedy’s confirmation as health secretary, unsuccessfully urged that the conference be postponed until panelists with greater vaccine experience could be included. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Republican from Alaska, also had concerns regarding the new panelists’ backgrounds.
Martin Kulldorff, a physician and former professor at Harvard Medical School who was dismissed in 2024 for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine and who has opposed mandatory vaccinations during the pandemic, is currently the committee’s chair.
In his opening remarks, Kulldorff stated that this committee has been explicitly instructed by Secretary Kennedy to utilize evidence-based medicine when recommending vaccines, and that is exactly what we will do. Additionally, he denied that his criticism of vaccine mandates was anti-vax.
He claimed that some media outlets have been extremely critical of the new committee members, leveling unfounded charges and attempting to sway scientists to support or oppose vaccines. Such designations stifle crucial scientific investigation and exacerbate vaccine reluctance. A pro-vaccine stance is to carefully examine and guarantee the safety and effectiveness of vaccines.
Robert Malone, a physician and biochemist who was one of the other members appointed to the committee, stated that he regards the term “anti-vaxxer” as high praise and Vicky Pebsworth is a member of the board of the National Vaccine Information Center, a group that promotes vaccine exemptions, and a regional director for the National Association of Catholic Nurses.
By the time the group met for the two-day summit in Atlanta, one of its members, Michael Ross, had already resigned. Kennedy did not attend the meeting because he was in Oklahoma for a Make America Healthy Again event.
Completely unprecedented
Dozens of people risked the intense heat to hold what they called a parade of avoidable diseases to draw attention to the risks of restricting the public’s access to vaccines while the committee met indoors. They also demanded that the committee’s original composition be reinstated.
Just outside the center’s entrance, a wide variety of infections, including meningococcus, HPV, and influenza, were depicted. To symbolize polio, Dr. Deblina Datta wore a leg brace.
We don’t want to witness this again. Datta held up the brace and stated, “We are going to see people wearing this when we introduce vaccine skepticism.”On Wednesday, former CDC employee Dr. Deblina Datta represented polio by wearing a leg brace. Georgia Recorder/Jill Nolin
Datta worked on vaccines for more than 20 years at CDC, including six years on the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. She described the sudden committee reorganization as concerning.
Although it’s okay to have a healthy skepticism about vaccine policy, Datta added that this degree of suspicion and the sources of the skepticism being placed on ACIP are disastrous. Additionally, it is seriously undermining public confidence in the ACIP’s ability to set policy.
Having worked mostly on vaccine-preventable diseases before retiring from the CDC two years ago, Katrina Kretsinger expressed serious worries about the committee’s recent revisions.
According to her, this is totally unprecedented. Furthermore, I don’t think it will be credible at all.
However, she stated that she is also attempting to adopt a somewhat “wait and see” mentality toward the new members.
According to Kretsinger, some of the seven have a very apparent anti-vaccine agenda and are well-known for having opinions that are difficult to support on the basis of science. Other members of the group, on the other hand, appear to be quite competent. It’s really disappointing.
ACIP s new agenda
Before voting on new vaccination recommendations, the new ACIP appointees are expected to spend two days examining safety and effectiveness data on COVID-19, Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), Measles, Mumps, Rubella, and Varicella (MMRV), Influenza, Anthrax, and Chikungunya vaccines.
But according to Kulldorff, the committee also intends to establish new working groups tasked with assessing the effects of children vaccinations and looking at when it is advised that babies receive Hepatitis B vaccinations. Additionally, vaccines that have not been reviewed in the previous seven years will be reexamined by the committee.
According to Kulldorff, it’s critical to assess the cumulative impact of the suggested vaccination schedule in addition to researching and assessing individual vaccines.
Lyn Redwood, the former leader of Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccine organization Kennedy established, will also make a presentation on Thursday’s schedule.
Redwood, who is not employed by the CDC, is anticipated to make the case that autism is brought on by thimerosal, a preservative found in a tiny percentage of flu shots. The CDC states that there is no evidence linking thimerosal to autism or any other cause of harm, and the ingredient was removed from U.S. pediatric vaccines in 2001.
This report was written by Jill Nolin, editor of the Georgia Recorder.
