RFK Jr fires entire US vaccine committee

Yahoo

a day ago

Robert F Kennedy Jr has dismissed all current members of a key federal vaccine advisory panel, accusing them of conflicts of interest.
The removal of all 17 experts of the advisory committee on immunisation practices was revealed in a Wall Street Journal op-ed and an official press release.
Mr Kennedy, the US health secretary, who has spent two decades amplifying vaccine misinformation, cast the move as essential to restoring public trust, claiming the committee had been compromised by financial ties to pharmaceutical companies.
'Today we are prioritising the restoration of public trust above any specific pro or anti-vaccine agenda,' he said in a statement from the Department of Health and Human Services.
'The public must know that unbiased science – evaluated through a transparent process and insulated from conflicts of interest – guides the recommendations of our health agencies.'
In his op-ed, Mr Kennedy claimed the panel was 'plagued with persistent conflicts of interest' and had become 'little more than a rubber stamp for any vaccine'.
He added that new members were being considered to replace those ousted, all of whom were appointed under Joe Biden, the former president.
Committee members are chosen for their recognised expertise and are required to disclose potential conflicts of interest.
'RFK Jr and the Trump administration are taking a wrecking ball to the programs that keep Americans safe and healthy,' Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, said in response.
Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, a medical doctor who expressed concern about Mr Kennedy's track record during his Senate nomination but ultimately voted in his favour, wrote on X: 'Of course, now the fear is that the ACIP will be filled up with people who know nothing about vaccines except suspicion.
'I've just spoken with Secretary Kennedy, and I'll continue to talk with him to ensure this is not the case.'
The decision drew sharp criticism from Paul Offit, a paediatrician and leading expert on virology and immunology, who served on the panel from 1998 to 2003.
'He believes that anybody who speaks well of vaccines, or recommends vaccines, must be deeply in the pocket of industry,' Mr Offit told AFP. 'He's fixing a problem that doesn't exist.'
'We are witnessing an escalating effort by the administration to silence independent medical expertise and stoke distrust in life-saving vaccines,' added Susan Kressly, president of the American Academy of Paediatrics, in a statement.
Once a celebrated environmental lawyer, Kennedy pivoted to public health from the mid-2000s, chairing a non-profit that discouraged routine childhood immunisations and amplified false claims, including the long-debunked theory that the Measles, Mumps and Rubella (MMR) vaccine causes autism.
Since taking office, he has curtailed access to Covid shots and continued to raise fears around the MMR vaccine even as the US faces its worst measles outbreak in years, with three reported deaths and more than 1,100 confirmed cases. Experts have warned that the true case count is likely to be far higher.
'How can this country have confidence that the people RFK Jr. wants on the advisory committee on immunisation practices are people we can trust?' asked Mr Offit.
He recalled that during Donald Trump's first term as US president, several states formed independent vaccine advisory panels after the administration pressured federal health agencies to prematurely approve Covid vaccines ahead of the 2020 election. He warned that kind of fragmentation could happen again.
The advisory committee on immunisation practices is scheduled to hold its next meeting at the headquarters of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta from June 25 to June 27.
Vaccines for anthrax, Covid, human papillomavirus, influenza, Lyme disease, respiratory syncytial virus, and more are on the agenda.
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