RFK Jr's new vaccine panel opens with scandal after citing non-existent study
The panel's first meeting opened under controversy when a planned presentation cited a completely non-existent 2008 study.
The new panel plans to revisit long-settled vaccine science.
A medical panel appointed by US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr opened its first meeting on Wednesday under a cloud of controversy after a presentation it planned to review cited a non-existent study.
The Advisory Committee on Immunisation Practices (ACIP), an independent body that reviews scientific evidence to recommend which groups should receive vaccines and when, rarely makes headlines.
But its work has come under fresh scrutiny after Kennedy - who spent two decades spreading vaccine misinformation before becoming President Donald Trump's top health official - abruptly dismissed all 17 sitting ACIP members earlier this month, accusing them of pharmaceutical industry conflicts of interest.
He then appointed eight new members, including scientist Robert Malone, widely known for spreading false claims during the Covid-19 pandemic, and Martin Kulldorff, chair of the panel and a co-signatory of the Great Barrington Declaration, which called for an end to lockdowns in October 2020 - months before Covid vaccines became available.
The posted agenda signalled the panel would revisit long-settled debates around thimerosal, a vaccine preservative, and highlight rare side-effects linked to measles shots, with no planned discussion of their enormous public health benefits.
READ | US Senate votes in Trump's controversial pick Robert F Kennedy Jr as secretary of health
Lyn Redwood, a nurse and former leader of Children's Health Defence - an anti-vaccine group once chaired by RFK Jr - is set to present on thimerosal.
Scientists reviewing her slides found she had cited a non-existent 2008 study by RF Berman titled "Low-level neonatal thimerosal exposure: Long-term consequences in the brain." In fact, no such study exists.
While Berman did publish a paper that year, it appeared in a different journal and found no evidence linking thimerosal to autism.
The presentation was quietly removed and replaced without explanation.
Revisiting established science
Opening the meeting, Kulldorff lamented his firing by Harvard University for refusing the Covid vaccine.
He also announced the formation of a new working group to re-examine the wisdom of Hepatitis B shots for babies "at the day of birth."
Experts met the announcement with scepticism.
"The rationale for Hepatitis B vaccination prior to hospital discharge (not day or birth) for neonates is well documented and established - but it's another pet cause of the anti-vaccine movement so not surprising it's being mentioned," Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University told AFP.
Similarly, thimerosal is a mercury-based preservative long used in medicines, with no evidence of harm at low doses.
"Study after study showed that the ethylmercury in those vaccines never contributed in any important way to the burden of mercury that one is exposed to, living on this planet," vaccine expert Paul Offit of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia told AFP.
Still, vaccine makers agreed to remove it from paediatric vaccines in 1999 in response to public concern. It remains in some flu shots.
Measles running rampant
For childhood immunisations, US parents can opt for a combined measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella (MMRV) shot or two separate injections - one for MMR and the other for varicella.
The combination spares children an extra jab but carries a slightly higher risk of febrile seizures, a rare and typically harmless side-effect.
Separating the shots is already recommended for the first dose at 12-47 months, leaving experts puzzled as to why the issue is being revisited.
"This working group may also look at new research concerning the optimal timing of the
measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to resolve religious objections that some parents have concerning the MMR vaccine being used here in the United States," said Kulldorff.
The US, which declared measles eliminated in 2000, is currently experiencing its worst outbreak in decades, with more than 1 200 cases and three confirmed deaths.
The panel's recommendations could have broad consequences, shaping school vaccine mandates and insurance coverage.
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