CDC posts 'conflicts of interest' database on vaccine panel members
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Friday launched a webpage listing information about current and former members of its independent vaccine advisory committee, including what it describes as conflicts of interests.
The website was announced by the agency in a post on X late Friday morning.
The new database comes after Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — whose department oversees the CDC and has postponed or canceled two major vaccine advisory committee meetings in recent weeks — has vowed to increase "radical transparency" at the federal health agencies.
It wasn't immediately clear, however, how the webpage would accomplish that.
Much of the information on the members of the committee, called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, is already publicly available, including their previous work on clinical trials. The panel members — pediatricians, epidemiologists, public health experts and geriatricians — are volunteers who are selected by the health secretary, following an application and vetting process, according to the CDC.
The committee regularly meets several times a year to recommend who should get vaccines that are already approved, including the schedule for childhood vaccinations, or review data.
Neither the CDC nor the committee mandate vaccination.
The CDC's new list includes names of members, the dates they served and what the agency describes as conflicts of interests, such as previous work as a principal investigator for clinical trials funded by drug companies or whose institution received a grant from the industry.
Arthur Caplan, head of the division of medical ethics at NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City, said the database could be used to sow doubt about the advice given by ACIP, giving a false appearance that members have strong ties to the industry — a belief, he said, long held by Kennedy.
Caplan said, it's nearly impossible to find anyone with this kind of expertise who doesn't have an apparent conflict of interest. Often, he said, they are the ones overseeing research done by drugmakers, but don't own stocks in companies.
The fact that the disclosures are so thorough, he added, should give people confidence.
"Many people have conflicts. You'll find huge numbers of them in the Trump administration," Caplan said. "The way you deal with them is not just to say, 'No one can have them.' You have to manage them."
Kennedy himself was grilled about his own conflicts of interest during his confirmation hearing in late January, including his work at the Children's Health Defense, the anti-vaccine nonprofit group he founded, and his involvement with litigation against HPV vaccine maker Merck. Kennedy told lawmakers he would divest his interest in litigation against the drugmaker.
Caplain noted that it's standard practice for ACIP members with industry ties to recuse themselves from participating in certain meetings. The committee chair also calls for conflict of interest disclosures at the start of each meeting.
Taking aim at ACIP
Kennedy has previously criticized ACIP, telling Fox News in February, without citing any data, that 'almost all' members on the vaccine advisory committee have 'severe, severe conflicts of interest.'
Andrew Nixon, a senior spokesperson at HHS, said in an emailed statement that the website is "in alignment with HHS Secretary Kennedy's commitment to radical transparency."
"CDC released a tool for Americans to easily access conflicts of interest for ACIP committee members," Nixon said. "Rather than conflicts of interest being buried within meeting minutes, this tool quickly provides the public with ACIP members' conflicts of interest."
Still, the move is unlikely to alleviate worries from health experts and lawmakers that Kennedy could disrupt vaccine regulations in the U.S.
It came as no surprise to Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, that the CDC, under Kennedy, took aim at ACIP.
Offit, a former member of the ACIP who has criticized Kennedy in the past, said the website represents Kennedy's "basic belief that Big Pharma has had undue influence on vaccine policy decisions."
"There is not a single shred of evidence showing that is true," Offit added.
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