Kennedy's new vaccine advisers meet for first time

Boston Globe

6 hours ago

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It's one signal that this week's two-day meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices isn't business as usual.
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Another sign: Shortly before the meeting, a Virginia-based obstetrician and gynecologist stepped down from the committee, bringing the panel's number to just seven. The Trump administration said Dr. Michael Ross withdrew during a customary review of members' financial holdings.
The meeting opened as the American Academy of Pediatrics announced that it will continue publishing its own vaccine schedule for children but now will do so independently of the ACIP, calling it 'no longer a credible process.'
The panel, created more than 60 years ago, helps 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, such as at pharmacies.
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Earlier this month, Kennedy
The highly unusual moves prompted a last-minute plea from a prominent Republican senator to delay this week's meeting. Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a physician who chairs the chamber's health committee, said Monday that many of Kennedy's chosen panelists lack the required expertise and 'may even have a preconceived bias' against new vaccine technologies.
In a House hearing Tuesday, Kennedy defended his purge, saying the old panel had been 'a template for medical malpractice.'
Rep. Kim Schrier, a pediatrician and Democrat from Washington state, told Kennedy: 'I will lay all responsibility for every death from a vaccine-preventable illness at your feet.'
Committee will vote on RSV protections
The two-day meeting's agenda on was abruptly
Discussion of COVID-19 shots will open the session on Wednesday. Later in the day, the committee will take up RSV, with votes expected. On Thursday, the committee will vote on fall flu vaccinations and on the use of a preservative in certain flu shots.
In 2023, U.S. health officials began
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The committee will discuss another company's newly approved antibody shot, but the exact language for the vote was not released prior to the meeting.
'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, said Lawrence Gostin, a public health law expert at Georgetown University who co-authored a recent
Flu shot recommendations to be debated
At its June meetings, the committee usually refreshes guidance for Americans 6 month and older to get a flu shot, and helps greenlight the annual fall vaccination campaign.
But given the recent changes to the committee and federal public health leadership, it's unclear how routine topics will be treated, said Jason Schwartz, a Yale University health policy researcher who has studied the committee.
Thursday also promises controversy. The advisory panel is set to consider a preservative in a subset of flu shots that Kennedy and some antivaccine groups have falsely contended is tied to autism. In preparation, the CDC posted a new report confirming that research shows no link between the preservative, thimerosal, and autism or any other neurodevelopmental disorders.
Gostin said the agenda appears to be 'a combination of what we would normally expect ACIP to cover along with a mixture of potential conspiracy theories,' he said. 'We clearly are in a new normal that's highly skeptical of vaccine science.'
The committee's recommendations traditionally go to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director. Historically, nearly all are accepted and then used by insurance companies in deciding what vaccines to cover.
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But the CDC currently has no director, so the committee's recommendations have been going to Kennedy, and he has yet to act on a couple recommendations ACIP made in April.
The
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Neergaard reported from Washington.
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