Member of RFK Jr's new vaccine panel withdraws over conflict of interest
A member of the health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr's newly overhauled federal vaccine advisory panel withdrew after a conflict of interest review, a spokesperson has told the Guardian.
Dr Michael Ross, who was involved in multiple private healthcare companies, withdrew after review of his financial holdings.
Kennedy unilaterally fired all 17 members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) advisory committee on immunization practices (ACIP) in June, arguing they had too many conflicts of interest.
Ross was among eight of Kennedy's ideological allies appointed to the committee, after the secretary argued the old members of the committee were subject to too many conflicts of interest.
'Yesterday, Dr Michael Ross decided to withdraw from serving on ACIP during the financial holdings review,' a spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said.
'The sacrifice to serve on ACIP varies from member to member, and we appreciate Dr Ross's willingness to go through this rigorous process.'
The spokesperson made the comments after Guardian inquiries about conflict of interest disclosures for new members of ACIP. Although the Trump administration and Kennedy developed a conflict of interest tracker specifically for ACIP members, Kennedy's appointees have not been added.
The HHS spokesperson did not respond to Guardian inquiries about when and where new, written conflict of interest disclosures would be published.
Instead, the spokesperson said the department has, 'comprehensively reviewed all newly appointed ACIP members for conflicts of interests in accordance with federal law, regulations and departmental polices', and that the members were provided 'ethics training prior to discharging their duties'.
The new members of the committee were asked to disclose conflicts of interest before the meeting began on Wednesday. The committee chair Dr Martin Kulldorff and committee member Dr Robert Malone omitted widely reported work in vaccine litigation, and nurse Vicky Pebsworth said she was 'asked to read' a statement disclosed ownership of a healthcare stock but said it was below the government ethics office threshold for reporting.
Ethics review of the new members was also the subject of Senate testimony on Wednesday.
Under questioning by the Democratic senator Patty Murray of Washington, the Trump nominee to head the CDC, Dr Susan Monarez, said she was 'not familiar whether or not the members that are participating in the meeting this week have or have not gone through the ethics review necessary to allow them to participate in those meetings'.
'If it is known that they have not gone through the ethics process and they issue recommendations, would you accept them as valid?' asked Murray.
'If they have not gone through an ethics approval process, they shouldn't be participating in the meetings,' said Monarez.
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