Former CDC Board Members Say RFK Jr. Has “Critically Weakened” Vaccine Program
By Chris Walker, Truthout
On June 16, the 17 former members of the Advisory Committee
on Immunization Practices (ACIP) at the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC), who were dismissed earlier this month by Department of Health
and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., published an op-ed
decrying that decision, noting that action and his questionable replacements
for the board would leave the country “critically weakened.”
Health Secretary swims with his grandkids in sewage.
Obviously, he doesn't CARE about putting families at risk.
The op-ed by the former ACIP members, the
first time that they have collectively spoken out since being ousted,
was published
in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
ACIP is a panel of independent scientists and health
experts that
provides guidance to the CDC on the safety and efficacy of vaccines. Those
recommendations are then reviewed by the director of the CDC, who has the final
say on whether to adopt them. Currently, there is no director for the agency,
which means Kennedy himself has the final say, for the time being.
Kennedy announced the dismissal of the previous board in a Wall Street Journal op-ed earlier in June, claiming that a “clean sweep” of the board was needed “to re-establish public confidence in vaccine science.” He named eight new members to the board two days later, which prompted health experts to express concern about their expertise, many noting that several of the new ACIP members are vaccine skeptics and conspiracy theorists.
The new members of ACIP are
set to meet later this month to vote on vaccine recommendations
relating to COVID, HPV, the flu, RSV, and more.
The 17 former members, comprising of health and science experts across various fields, stated that the ACIP has traditionally provided “a unified and trusted approach to vaccinations for the diverse array of immunization providers across the U.S.”
“For more than 60 years, the Advisory Committee on
Immunization Practices (ACIP) — codified in the federal regulations (42
USC 217a: advisory councils or committees) — has served as a panel of
experts that reviews the most up-to-date evidence on vaccines and monoclonal
antibodies (eg, against respiratory syncytial virus [RSV]), providing sound
recommendations to the [CDC] regarding how vaccines should be used,” the former
ACIP members said.
Kennedy’s decision to abruptly dismiss them from the board
and appoint eight new members two days later has “left the U.S. vaccine program
critically weakened,” the group wrote, adding, “These actions have stripped the
program of the institutional knowledge and continuity that have been essential
to its success over decades.”
ACIP has provided an incredible service to the American people, the former board members said, writing that their work and the work of their predecessors over the past 30 years “likely prevented around 508 million lifetime cases of illness, 32 million hospitalizations, and 1,129,000 deaths.”
The op-ed authors concluded by
stating:
We are deeply concerned that these destabilizing decisions, made without clear rationale, may roll back the achievements of U.S. immunization policy, impact people’s access to lifesaving vaccines, and ultimately put U.S. families at risk of dangerous and preventable illnesses.
In addition to the letter from the former ACIP board
members, a highly respected senior scientist at the CDC also announced her
resignation from the agency, in protest over the recent actions taken by
Kennedy.
“I no longer have confidence that these data will be used
objectively or evaluated with appropriate scientific rigor to make
evidence-based vaccine policy decisions,” Fiona Havers, an expert on
respiratory viruses who oversaw surveillance of nationwide outbreaks at the
CDC, wrote
in a letter to her colleagues.
While Kennedy has stated that his actions are necessary to restore confidence, polling shows that most Americans are unlikely to view him as trustworthy when it comes to health matters, especially vaccines. According to a Quinnipiac University poll published last week, only 38 percent of voters say they approve of Kennedy’s work so far as HHS secretary, with 53 percent disapproving of his job performance. Additionally, only 5 percent of voters said they could trust him for guidance on vaccinations for themselves or their family members.
Chris Walker is a news writer at Truthout, and is based out of Madison, Wisconsin. Focusing on both national and local topics since the early 2000s, he has produced thousands of articles analyzing the issues of the day and their impact on the American people. He can be found on most social media platforms under the handle @thatchriswalker.
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