The eight new members of a critical federal vaccine committee “represent a radical departure” from its mission, the AAP said Wednesday.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. named the new members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) two days after firing all 17 voting members of the group.
The appointees are Joseph R. Hibbeln, M.D., Martin Kulldorff, Ph.D., Retsef Levi, Ph.D., Robert W. Malone, M.D., H. Cody Meissner, M.D., James Pagano, M.D., Vicky Pebsworth, O.P., Ph.D., R.N., and Michael A. Ross, M.D. The group includes people with a history of voicing skepticism about vaccines and people who have been involved in spreading vaccine misinformation.
“These appointments only confirm our fears and represent a radical departure from ACIP’s core mission,” said AAP President Susan J. Kressly, M.D., FAAP. “The American Academy of Pediatrics remains committed to ensuring the appropriate expertise informs science-based vaccine recommendations and that children’s access to immunizations is preserved.”
The committee’s voting members historically have been independent medical and public health experts who do not work for the CDC. They meet at least three times a year to develop recommendations on how best to use vaccines after they are licensed or authorized by the Food and Drug Administration. Those recommendations impact which vaccines are covered by insurance.
Kennedy, who has a long history of anti-vaccine activism, accused previous ACIP members of being “a rubber stamp for industry profit-taking agendas” despite the strict vetting process they undergo and past votes against using certain vaccines. The AAP said it was “deeply troubled and alarmed” by their firing.
“We are witnessing an escalating effort by the Administration to silence independent medical expertise and stoke distrust in lifesaving vaccines,” Dr. Kressly said earlier this week. “Creating confusion around proven vaccines endangers families’ health and contributes to the spread of preventable diseases.”
ACIP is scheduled to meet on June 25-27. The agenda includes votes on vaccines for COVID-19, HPV, flu, meningococcal disease and respiratory syncytial virus, all of which have been under discussion and review for months by the terminated members.
In addition to studying new vaccines, Kennedy said he has tasked the new ACIP members with reviewing the safety and efficacy of the immunization schedules.
