A federal vaccine panel solely hand-selected by well being secretary and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gathered for its first assembly Wednesday—and instantly introduced that it could re-evaluate the whole childhood vaccination schedule, in addition to the one for adults.
The assembly total was filled with anti-vaccine speaking factors and arguments from the brand new panel members, confirming public well being consultants’ fears that the once-revered panel is now critically corrupted and that Kennedy’s controversial picks will solely work to satisfy his long-standing anti-vaccine agenda.
Controversial committee
An hour earlier than the assembly started, the American Academy of Pediatrics got here out swinging in opposition to the brand new panel, saying that the panel’s work is “not a reputable course of.” The group shunned the assembly, refusing to ship a liaison to the panel’s assembly, which it has completed for many years.
“We cannot lend our title or our experience to a system that’s being politicized on the expense of kids’s well being,” AAP President Susan Kressly stated in a video posted on social media.
The panel in query, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), has for greater than 60 years offered rigorous public scientific overview, dialogue, and trusted suggestions to the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention on how vaccines must be used within the US after they’ve earned approval from the Meals and Drug Administration. The CDC usually adopts ACIP’s suggestions, and as soon as that occurs, insurance coverage suppliers are required to cowl the price of the really useful photographs.
The system is extremely regarded globally. However, on June 9, Kennedy unilaterally and summarily fired all 17 esteemed ACIP members and, two days later, changed them with eight new individuals. Some have clear anti-vaccine views, others have controversial and contrarian public well being views, and several other have little to no experience within the fields related to vaccines.
Final evening, it got here to gentle that one of many eight new appointees—Michael Ross, an obstetrics and gynecology doctor—had withdrawn from the committee throughout a monetary holdings overview that ACIP members are required to finish earlier than starting work on the panel.
