Latest news with #AdvisoryCommitteeOnImmunizationPractices
Bloomberg
14 hours ago
- Health
- Bloomberg
CDC Cuts Experts Out of Panels That Develop Vaccine Policy
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told physician groups, public health professionals and infectious disease experts that they will no longer be invited to help review vaccine data and develop recommendations, according to an email viewed by Bloomberg. The move marks an escalation in Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s efforts to assert control over the CDC's vaccine advisory process. Under the change, external experts will be excluded from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices' working groups — subcommittees that review data and develop policy recommendations — but they will still be able to participate in open public meetings.
Arab News
2 days ago
- Health
- Arab News
Ousted US vaccine panel members say rigorous science is being abandoned
NEW YORK: The 17 experts who were ousted from a government vaccine committee last month say they have little faith in what the panel has become, and have outlined possible alternative ways to make US vaccine policy. US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. abruptly fired the entire Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, accusing them of being too closely aligned with manufacturers and of rubber-stamping vaccines. He handpicked replacements that include several vaccine skeptics. In a commentary published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine, the former panel members wrote that Kennedy — a leading voice in the anti-vaccine movement before becoming the US government's top health official — and his new panel are abandoning rigorous scientific review and open deliberation. That was clear, they said, during the new panel's first meeting, in June. It featured a presentation by an anti-vaccine advocate that warned of dangers about a preservative used in a few flu vaccines, but the committee members didn't hear from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention staffers about an analysis that concluded there was no link between the preservative and neurodevelopmental disorders. The new panel recommended that the preservative, thimerosal, be removed even as some members acknowledged there was no proof it was causing harm. 'That meeting was a travesty, honestly,' said former ACIP member Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, a pediatric infectious diseases expert at Stanford University. The 17 discharged experts last month published a shorter essay in the Journal of the American Medical Association that decried Kennedy's 'destabilizing decisions.' The focus was largely on their termination and on Kennedy's decision in May to stop recommending COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children and pregnant women. In the new commentary, the ousted committee members took it one step further and prescribed some steps that could be taken to maintain scientifically sound vaccine recommendations. 'An alternative to the Committee should be established quickly and — if necessary — independently from the federal government,' they wrote. 'No viable pathway exists to fully replace the prior trusted and unbiased ACIP structure and process. Instead, the alternatives must focus on limiting the damage to vaccination policy in the United States.' Options included having professional organizations working together to harmonize vaccine recommendations or establishing an external auditor of ACIP recommendations. There are huge challenges to the ideas, including having access to the best data, the authors acknowledged. There's also the question of whether health insurers would pay for vaccinations that are recommended by alternative groups but not ACIP. They might pick and choose which vaccines to cover, said the University of North Carolina's Noel Brewer, another former ACIP member. For example, they might pay for vaccines that offer more immediate cost savings for health care, like the flu vaccine. 'But maybe not ones that have a longer-term benefit like HPV vaccine,' which is designed to prevent futures cancers, Brewer said. Officials with the US Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
A farewell to Ozzy, Coke's sugar high, another vaccine shake-up: The week in review
RFK shakes up vaccines again Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. took another step toward overhauling the nation's vaccine policy when he approved the removal of thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative, from all flu vaccines despite widespread agreement in the medical community that the preservative is safe. Kennedy signed off on a recommendation from the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, a panel he replaced with his own appointed members in June, to stop distributing vaccines containing thimerosal, which has long been targeted by anti-vaccine groups. An operatic honor for Melania Republican lawmakers are working on a Kennedy Center production of their own: renaming the center's Opera House to the 'First Lady Melania Trump Opera House.' The House Appropriations Committee, whose spending bill funds the iconic performing arts venue in Washington, voted 33-25 for the change. Lawmakers have already agreed to spend $256.7 million on improvements to the center sought by President Donald Trump, who ousted much of the Kennedy Center's board after he took office and appointed himself chairman. He has criticized some of the center's performances and said in one visit that he 'never liked 'Hamilton' very much.' A sweet twist to the Cola wars Cane sugar: It's the real thing. A Coca-Cola made with cane sugar − not high-fructose corn syrup − is coming to the United States this fall, the company announced, just like the Coke you find overseas, including Mexico. (The long-running debate over which tastes better, U.S. Coke or Mexican Coke, has been a fierce one). The news doesn't come as a compete surprise; President Donald Trump had made a case for cane sugar Coke on social media in mid-July − 'You'll see. It's just better!' Also, not to be outdone, Pepsi announced it is launching Pepsi Prebiotic Cola this fall, in Original Cola and Cherry Vanilla, containing 5 grams of cane sugar and 3 grams of prebiotic fiber. Ozzy Osbourne, the 'Prince of Darkness,' is dead The heavy metal world has lost one of its most beloved characters, Ozzy Osbourne, at age 76, only weeks after reuniting with his original band, Black Sabbath, in England for a farewell show. Osbourne, who was infamous for his hard living (and for biting the head off a bat), exploded into stardom in a solo career and later branched into reality TV with MTV's 'The Osbournes' in the early 2000s. In 2020, he revealed he had Parkinson's disease. In a just-announced new memoir, 'Last Rites,' arriving Oct. 7, Osbourne says: 'Look, if it ends tomorrow, I can't complain. I've been all around the world. … I've done good, and I've done bad. But right now, I'm not ready to go anywhere.' Remembering Ozzy Osbourne: Life on the 'Crazy Train': The metal icon through the years All bets for 2026 are on Scottie Scheffler Scottie Scheffler, fresh off a dominating win at the British Open July 20, is at the top of his game, and you can expect he'll be there for awhile. Scheffler, 29, who also captured the PGA Championship in May and now needs only a U.S. Open victory to enter the elite group of golfers who have won the sport's grand slam of all four major championships, is now the odds-on favorite to win every major in 2026, according to BetMGM. Declared the gaming venture's Matt Wall: 'The comparisons with Tiger Woods certainly don't look out of place right now.' − Compiled by Robert Abitbol This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: A farewell to Ozzy, Coke's sugar high, the flu fight: Week in review
New York Times
23-07-2025
- Health
- New York Times
Kennedy Rescinds Endorsements for Some Flu Vaccines
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Tuesday formally rescinded federal recommendations for all flu vaccines containing thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative that the anti-vaccine movement has falsely linked to autism. The decision cements a move last month by vaccine advisers whom Mr. Kennedy named to the federal Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices after abruptly firing all 17 previous members. After hearing a presentation by the former leader of an anti-vaccine group, the panel had voted to walk back federal recommendations for all flu vaccines containing thimerosal. The decision will not affect most Americans seeking flu vaccines: Thimerosal is added to multidose vials of flu vaccines to prevent bacteria from growing, but it is not an ingredient of the single-dose vials administered to most people. During the 2024-25 respiratory virus season, only 3 percent of children and 2 percent of older adults received flu vaccines containing thimerosal, according to an analysis of electronic health records by Truveta, a company that analyzes such records. Still, multidose vials are needed in places where it is difficult to store many vaccines, such as nursing homes or mobile clinics serving remote rural areas. Mr. Kennedy's sign-off does not withdraw vaccines containing thimerosal from the market. But his rescinding the federal recommendation means that such shots may not be available to Americans, because insurance companies are no longer required to cover them. 'We urge global health authorities to follow this prudent example for the protection of children worldwide,' Mr. Kennedy said in a statement. Vaccine manufacturers have confirmed that they have the capacity to replace multidose vials containing mercury, ensuring that vaccine supplies for children and adults will 'remain uninterrupted,' the Department for Health and Human Services said in a statement. Federal health officials began removing thimerosal from childhood vaccines about 25 years ago, citing an abundance of caution despite a lack of data supporting safety concerns. Dozens of studies have shown thimerosal to be harmless. But the anti-vaccine community has long falsely maintained that the ingredient can cause neurological problems. At a meeting of the vaccine advisers last month, Lyn Redwood, a former leader of Children's Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group founded by Mr. Kennedy, claimed thimerosal was dangerous and toxic to children. Her presentation incorrectly said the only flu vaccine still containing thimerosal had 50 micrograms per dose, double the actual amount. The seven new advisers voted 5-1, with one abstention, to withdraw recommendations for flu vaccines containing thimerosal for children, pregnant women and other adults. The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention typically accepts the recommendations of the committee. But the agency does not currently have a leader, and so the decision fell to Mr. Kennedy.
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
US bans vaccine ingredient targeted by anti-vaxxers
The US health department said Wednesday it would end the use of a vaccine ingredient long targeted by conspiracy theorists over debunked claims it causes autism. Thimerosal, a preservative that prevents bacterial and fungal contamination in multidose vials, has been extensively studied, with authorities including the World Health Organization finding no evidence of harm. The move follows a vote by a panel of outside experts convened by Kennedy last month that voted to end the use of thimerosal in influenza vaccines for adults, pregnant people and children. Although the substance is now rarely used in US vaccines, the recommendations by the influential Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices alarmed experts, who said the move has effectively embedded talking points championed by the anti-vaccine movement into national policy. ia/sms
