RFK Jr's new vaccine committee issues bombshell decision on flu shots after previous panel was fired en masse
RFK Jr.'s newly-appointed vaccine advisory panel voted to recommend Americans take flu shots without a chemical that conspiracy theorists believe causes autism.
The dramatic reversal in federal vaccine guidance follows Kennedy's sweeping removal of all 17 members of the previous Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) earlier this month.
Their replacements, handpicked by Kennedy and including several vaccine skeptics, cast their first major vote by a margin of 5–1 to discourage use of thimerosal-containing flu shots - a formulation used in less than 5% of doses in the U.S.
Scientists have determine that the mercury-based preservative thimerosal poses no health risk and is already absent from the vast majority of vaccines.
The panel's decision ignores decades of scientific consensus and comes despite the Food and Drug Administration stating clearly that thimerosal is safe and that its removal from most vaccines was a precautionary move, not one based on evidence of harm.
A CDC report affirming that conclusion was removed from the committee's website ahead of Thursday's vote after Kennedy's office reportedly blocked its release.
Anti-vaccine groups have for decades linked thimerosal to autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders, and Kennedy wrote a book in 2014 in which he advocated for 'the immediate removal of mercury' from vaccines.
Study after study has found no evidence that thimerosal causes autism or other harm.
Yet since 2001, all vaccines routinely used for US children age 6 years or younger have come in thimerosal-free formulas - including single-dose flu shots that account for the vast majority of influenza vaccinations.
Anti-vaccine groups have for decades linked thimerosal to autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders, and Kennedy wrote a book in 2014 in which he advocated for 'the immediate removal of mercury' from vaccines
'There is still no demonstrable evidence of harm,' one panelist, Dr. Joseph Hibbeln, a psychiatrist formerly with the National Institutes of Health, said in acknowledging the committee wasn't following its usual practice of acting on evidence.
But he added that 'whether the actual molecule is a risk or not, we have to respect the fear of mercury' that might dissuade some people from getting vaccinated.
In recent days, Kennedy has posted on X about its alleged dangers.
The FDA on its website says 'there was no evidence that thimerosal in vaccines was dangerous,' and that the decision to remove it previously was a precautionary measure to decrease overall exposure to mercury among young infants.
Multi-dose forms of CSL's Afluria and Flucelvax as well as Sanofi's Fluzone use thimerosal as a preservative, according to the FDA's website.
Sanofi said it will have sufficient supply of its flu vaccine to support customer preference for this season. CSL said it supplies a very low number of multi-dose vials of flu vaccine in response to demand.
Medical groups decried the panel´s lack of transparency in blocking a CDC analysis of thimerosal that concluded there was no link between the preservative and neurodevelopmental disorders, including autism.
The data had been posted on the committee's website Tuesday, but was later removed - because, according to ACIP member Dr. Robert Malone, the report hadn't been authorized by Kennedy´s office. Panel members said they had read it.
The panel, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, voted 5-1 in three separate votes to recommend thimerosal-free shots.
The now 7-person panel was installed by Kennedy earlier this month after he abruptly fired all 17 members of the the influential Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and handpicked replacements that include several vaccine skeptics.
The ACIP panel advises the CDC determine who should be vaccinated against a long list of diseases, and when. Those recommendations have a big impact on whether insurance covers vaccinations and where they're available.
It typically meets three times a year and intends to conduct its next meeting in the third quarter, CDC said.
'The risk from influenza is so much greater than the nonexistent - as far as we know - risk from thimerosal. So I would hate for a person not to receive the influenza vaccine because the only available preparation contains thimerosal,' Dr. Cody Meissner, the only panel member who voted against the recommendation, said in explaining his vote.
Lyn Redwood, formerly of the Kennedy-founded anti-vaccine group Children's Health Defense, gave the presentation on thimerosal, arguing that it was a neurotoxin.
Redwood's presentation posted on the CDC's website earlier this week initially included a reference to a study that does not exist.
The report she gave to the committee was significantly shorter, removing a slide that made a reference to that study and another saying she did not have any conflicts of interest.
'With the vote on thimerosal this afternoon, the new committee has turned the ACIP process into a farce,' said former CDC vaccine adviser Dr. Fiona Havers, who resigned last week over Kennedy's changes to vaccine policy.
She said it is unprecedented to have an outside speaker present and then move immediately to a vote.
Evidence is usually compiled formally by CDC and reviewed by a work group. She noted that CDC experts did not present their data publicly to refute Redwood.
xCBS and The New York Times have reported that the agency hired Redwood to work in its vaccine safety office.
An HHS spokesman declined to comment on whether Redwood had been hired by the CDC.
While Thursday's debate involved only a small fraction of flu vaccines, some public health experts contend the discussion unnecessarily raised doubt about vaccine safety.
Already, fewer than half of Americans get their yearly flu vaccinations, and mistrust in vaccines overall is growing.
'Selective use of data and omission of established science undermines public trust and fuels misinformation,' said Dr. Sean O´Leary of the American Academy of Pediatrics. He said of the new panelists, 'Nothing about their recent actions have been science-based or transparent.'
The flu votes marked the final step of a two-day meeting that alarmed pediatricians and other doctors' groups, who pointed to new panelists' lack of expertise in how to properly track vaccine safety - and a shift in focus to some longtime messages of antivaccine groups.
'What should have been a rigorous, evidence-based discussion on the national vaccine schedule instead appeared to be a predetermined exercise orchestrated to undermine the well-established safety and efficacy of vaccines and fundamental basics of science,' said Dr. Jason Goldman of the American College of Physicians.
Of special concern was the announcement by panel chairman Martin Kulldorff to reevaluate the 'cumulative effect' of the children's vaccine schedule - the list of immunizations given at different times throughout childhood.
That reflects the scientifically debunked notion that children today get too many vaccinations, somehow overwhelming their immune system.
Doctors say improved vaccine technology means kids today are exposed to fewer antigens - substances that the immune system reacts to - than their grandparents despite getting more doses.
US Rep. Kim Schrier, a pediatrician and Democrat from Washington state, told reporters on Thursday that children are exposed to more antigens 'in one day of day care' than in all their vaccinations.
Earlier on Thursday, the committee voted 5-2 to recommend use of Merck's recently approved RSV antibody drug Enflonsia for infants 8 months or younger whose mothers did not receive a preventive shot during pregnancy.
ACIP panel member Retsef Levi raised safety concerns about the antibody drug, which were addressed by experts at the FDA and CDC.
He said he would be concerned about giving the product to one of his healthy children and was one of the two votes against the recommendation.
The panel's recommendations need to be adopted by either the CDC director or the Health and Human Services Secretary before becoming final.
There is currently no CDC director.
President Donald Trump's nominee for the post, Susan Monarez, spoke to a Senate committee on Wednesday as part of the confirmation process.
Also at the ACIP meeting:
The panel backed a new option to protect infants against RSV, a virus especially dangerous to babies. It voted 5-2 that a newly approved antibody shot from Merck could be used alongside two existing options.
Kulldorff said the panel may look into whether hepatitis B vaccination of newborns is appropriate if the mother doesn't carry the liver-destroying virus.
Pediatricians counter that babies can catch the virus in other ways, such as from other caregivers who don't know they're infected.
Kennedy already sidestepped the advisory group and announced the COVID-19 vaccine will no longer be recommended for healthy children or pregnant women. But CDC scientists told the panel that vaccination is 'the best protection' during pregnancy and that most children hospitalized for COVID-19 over the past year were unvaccinated.
Some advisers questioned if the CDC´s extensive tracking of vaccine safety is trustworthy.
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