10 hours ago
A general view of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia.
Tami Chappell | Reuters
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s revamped government panel of vaccine advisors will start a review of long-approved shots in the U.S., the leader of the group said Wednesday in the first meeting with new members.
The panel, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, will also review the childhood vaccination schedule. Earlier this month, Kennedy in a stunning step removed and replaced all members of the group, which advises the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
ACIP members are independent medical and public health experts who review vaccine data and make recommendations that determine who is eligible for shots and whether insurers should cover them, among other efforts. But Kennedy appointed some vaccine critics, including Dr. Robert Malone, who could shape immunization policy and affect availability in the U.S.
ACIP will create new work groups, which are staff that review published and unpublished data and develop recommendation options to present to the committee, Dr. Martin Kulldorff, the new chair of the panel, said during the meeting. One new work group will review the childhood vaccine schedule, while another will examine shots that have not been subject to reviews in more than seven years, he said.
The latter group may examine the universally recommended hepatitis B vaccine and ask whether it is "wise" to administer the shot to every newborn before they leave the hospital, Kulldorff added. He also said the group could review the combination measles, mumps and rubella shot, along with the chickenpox jab. Vaccine skeptics have questioned the safety of both shots.
"This was supposed to be a regular practice of the ACIP, but it has not been done in a thorough and systematic way. We will change that," Kulldorff said.
Dr. Sean O'Leary, an infectious disease expert with the American Academy of Pediatrics, told reporters later Wednesday that reviewing the vaccine schedule has been "an anti-vaccine trope for many, many years." O'Leary said many vaccines are "essentially always reviewed in real-time through a number of different mechanisms," including several safety surveillance and disease surveillance tools.
The American Academy of Pediatrics did not participate in the ACIP meeting on Wednesday because "we view it as illegitimate," O'Leary said. He added that the organization will continue to provide vaccine schedules for children independently of the CDC.
"What we're seeing today, and if this were to continue, the medical providers, public health professionals, the entire country is no longer going to trust ACIP. That's clear," O'Leary said, saying the goal is to reinstate the 17 members that Kennedy fired and return to "a normal process."
During a full-day meeting Wednesday in Atlanta, the panel evaluated data on Covid-19 vaccines and RSV shots. A vote on recommendations for the latter was postponed until the group's meeting on Thursday.
Also on Thursday, the group will review data on shots for the flu and other diseases.
The CDC director has to sign off on those recommendations for them to become official policy.
"Vaccines are not all good or bad," Kulldorff said in opening remarks.
"If you think that all vaccines are safe and effective and want them all, or if you think that all vaccines are dangerous and don't want any of them, then you don't have much use for us. You already know what you want," said Kulldorff, a biostatistician and epidemiologist who questioned lockdowns and other public health measures early in the Covid-19 pandemic.
"But if you wish to know which vaccines are suitable for you and your children and at what ages, then we will provide you with evidence-based recommendations," he added.
Ahead of the meeting, one of Kennedy's new appointees stepped down from the panel.
In a statement, an HHS spokesperson said Dr. Michael Ross withdrew from ACIP during a mandatory review of each member's financial holdings, without providing further details. It is unclear what his financial holdings are.
Ross is a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology and has served on another CDC advisory panel focused on breast and cervical cancer.
A CDC web page on conflict of interest disclosures for ACIP members does not appear to list any for Kennedy's members, apart from Dr. Cody Meissner.
What new panel members have said about vaccines
Kennedy's eight new members include some well-known vaccine critics, such as Dr. Robert Malone.
Malone bills himself as having played a key role in the creation of mRNA vaccines, but has gained a large following for making baseless and disproven claims about Covid-19 shots.
Another new member, Retsef Levi, has pushed to stop giving mRNA vaccines, falsely claiming in a post on X that they cause "serious harm including death, especially among young people."
Another member, Vicky Pebsworth, is a nurse on the board of The Vaccine Information Center. That organization has been widely criticized as a leading source of misinformation and fearmongering about immunization.
During the meeting on Wednesday, Pebsworth revealed that she owns stock and health-care sector funds that include vaccine manufacturers. But she said her holdings are under the amount the government considers to be a conflict of interest, allowing her to participate in the ACIP meeting.
Kennedy fired previous ACIP members for having what he called "persistent conflicts of interest." But all HHS agencies and their advisory panels have had rigorous policies for conflicts of interest, and there have been no related issues for years.
