Latest news with #vaccineadvisorypanel
Reuters
2 days ago
- Health
- Reuters
Kennedy accepts vaccine panel's recommendation to remove preservative from US flu shots
July 23 (Reuters) - U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Wednesday accepted the recommendation of a panel of experts to remove mercury-based preservative thimerosal from all influenza vaccines distributed in the country. A newly revamped vaccine advisory panel, members of which were chosen by Kennedy himself, had made the recommendation last month.
Yahoo
29-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
RFK Jr. opens new chapter in US vaccine policy
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has opened a new chapter of federal vaccine policy that invites questions on issues long considered to be settled and that pushes anti-vaccine priorities into mainstream government guidelines. During his Senate confirmation hearings, Kennedy said he wouldn't undermine vaccines. 'I am not going to go into HHS and impose my preordained opinions on anybody at HHS,' he said. 'I'm going to empower the scientists at HHS to do their job and make sure that we have good science that is evidence based.' Over the course of a two-day meeting this week, Kennedy's handpicked panel of vaccine advisers said they would launch an investigation into the cumulative effect of the childhood and adolescent vaccine schedules and consider new recommendations for shots that have long been on the market. 'Vaccines are not all good or bad,' said Martin Kulldorff, the committee's new chair and a former Harvard University professor. 'No questions should be off-limits.' The panel also voted to effectively remove an ingredient from flu shots that has long been the target of anti-vaccine activists, including Kennedy, despite numerous studies showing it is safe. The vote was not unanimous with two of the seven members abstaining or voting 'no' on the question of only recommending thimerosal-free flu vaccines. 'I think this is a prelude to them demonstrating their ability to go in with this committee, make recommendations to pull some of these vaccines,' former FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb said during a recent CNBC interview. Gottlieb noted the backlash to pandemic-era measures like vaccine mandates launched a backlash Kennedy is taking advantage of. 'We've now built a lot of anti-vaccine sentiment. Secretary Kennedy is fueling that with what he's doing in groups like the ACIP that he's constituted. The consequences of this are going to be felt for years,' Gottlieb said. In early June, Kennedy fired the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) entire Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and installed eight new members, several of whom have openly questioned vaccines. The panel met with just seven members after one person dropped out prior to the meeting. On Thursday, the ACIP voted to no longer recommend any flu vaccines containing the preservative thimerosal, based on the presentation of a single vaccine critic. Lyn Redwood, a nurse practitioner and a former leader of Kennedy's anti-vaccine group, said thimerosal is a 'developmental and reproductive toxicant' that never underwent proper safety testing. The CDC removed a copy of her initial presentation from its website earlier this week after it appeared to cite a nonexistent study. Redwood was recently hired by HHS and is listed as an 'expert' in the agency's employee directory. She presented her argument against thimerosal as a private citizen, however, not as a representative of the federal government. Thimerosal is a rarely used ingredient, so the real-world impact of the vote is likely minimal. It's used in multi-dose vials in order to prevent the growth of bacteria and fungi and is more commonly used in low-income countries. But the vote showed the panel's willingness to disregard scientific data and empower people with longstanding grievances against the public health establishment and the anti-vaccine movement to make policy recommendations for the entire country. 'What we heard in this meeting was really a false narrative that the current vaccine policies are flawed and that they need fixing,' said Sean O'Leary, chair of the American Academy of Pediatrics Committee on Infectious Diseases, in a press conference. 'That's completely false. These policies have saved millions of lives, trillions of dollars.' AAP said it will no longer take part in the proceedings because they are not 'credible.' Public health experts said Redwood's presentation at the meeting went against the standards of what a group like the ACIP should uphold. Jerome Adams, who served as surgeon general in the first Trump administration, said in a post on the social platform X that the presentation 'bypassed normal CDC vetting, cherry-picked outdated data, and ignored decades of safety evidence.' Elizabeth Jacobs, professor emerita from the department of epidemiology at the University of Arizona and co-founder of the Defend Public Health advocacy network, described the meeting as a 'circus-like atmosphere' rather than the typically staid, academic one. 'Lynn Redwood was permitted to give a presentation that was just simply deceptive about thimerosal and vaccines. And that type of behavior is really not something that a serious scientific body should be considering,' Jacobs told The Hill. 'It is entirely inappropriate to have a person present at a scientific meeting one side of an issue with very weak evidence and completely ignore the decades of data showing the safety and effectiveness of thimerosal.' One ACIP member, the sole member to vote 'No' on recommending only thimerosal-free flu shots, expressed concerns that the vote could lead to reduced vaccine access abroad as other countries look to the panel for guidance. 'The recommendations that the ACIP makes are followed among many countries around the world and removing thimerosal from all vaccines that are used in other countries, for example, is going to reduce access to these vaccines,' said Cody Meissner, professor of pediatrics at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth College who previously served on the ACIP. 'It will increase cost. And I think it's important to note that no study has ever indicated any harm from thimerosal. It's been used in vaccines, as was noted by Ms. Redwood, since before World War II,' he added. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Reuters
25-06-2025
- Health
- Reuters
Kennedy's US vaccine panel set to break norms meant to ensure sound policy
CHICAGO, June 25 (Reuters) - U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s newly reconstituted vaccine advisory panel, set to convene on Wednesday, has already strayed from norms and procedures designed to ensure scientific rigor and consensus, panel members, advisers and former government employees told Reuters. Kennedy, who has a long history of sowing doubt about vaccine safety, this month fired all 17 members of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory panel and replaced them with eight of his picks. At least two CDC staff members have left over the changes. Typically, vaccine advisory meetings require months of preparation and multiple subcommittee meetings with career CDC experts, panel members and outside experts who review scientific data and present recommendations for the committee to consider and vote on. Agendas and voting questions are typically posted publicly weeks before to allow for public comment. Instead, the final meeting agenda for Wednesday's meeting was posted on the CDC's website, and then changed on Tuesday, shifting who was assigned to present recommendations on a newly raised flu vaccine question. COVID and influenza work group meetings to prepare for Wednesday's panel were cancelled because no new ACIP members had been assigned, members of the groups said. And one of the new panel members was slated to present data, rather than listen to information vetted and approved by a work group and presented to the whole panel by CDC expert staff, according to the meeting agenda. An HHS spokesperson disputed the concerns, saying the additions and scheduling decisions were made transparently and in line with established procedures. Lyn Redwood, former leader of Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy, is scheduled to make a presentation on Wednesday on flu vaccines containing thimerosal, a preservative that has been largely phased out of U.S. vaccines, according to the Food and Drug Administration. "The normal process is for material and issues that are brought before the full committee to come through the work groups, those are the subcommittees," said Dr. William Schaffner, a infectious disease and vaccine expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center who serves on the influenza work group. "I can tell you that the influenza vaccine work group has not discussed thimerosal," he said. Redwood's presentation makes the case that thimerosal is a known neurotoxin and that the panel should recommend only thimerosal-free flu vaccines for all pregnant women, infants and children, according to slides posted on the CDC's website on Tuesday. Reuters was unable to reach Redwood for comment. A CDC briefing document compiled by staff and also posted on Tuesday noted in the 2024-2025 season, 96% of all influenza vaccines in the United States were thimerosal-free. It included a review of scientific literature and concluded that there is no link between vaccines containing thimerosal and autism or other neurodevelopmental disorders. Dorit Reiss, a vaccine law expert at UC Law San Francisco, called it "unheard of" that the lead presentation on thimerosal is being given by Redwood, given her association with an anti-vaccine organization. "The procedures do not directly forbid it, but at least imply that presentations would be vetted by the work groups and presented by them," she said. Former CDC vaccine expert Dr. Fiona Havers, a 13-year veteran of the agency who resigned on June 16 over Kennedy's recent changes, said a presentation scheduled to be given by new panel member, Dr. Martin Kulldorff, on combination measles vaccines was highly unusual. Kulldorff is a biostatistician and epidemiologist who publicly criticized COVID-era lockdowns and served as an expert witness against Merck's (MRK.N), opens new tab Gardasil vaccine used to prevent cancer from human papillomavirus. Kulldorff will be summarizing data on vaccines that combine immunizations for measles, mumps, Rubella with the varicella vaccine, which prevents chickenpox. "I have never seen a sitting member of ACIP on the schedule do a presentation summarizing data," she said, noting that the addition of both Redwood and Kulldorff "appears to be bypassing usual ACIP processes.'
Yahoo
19-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
‘Bobby Kennedy is going to kill more people than any Cabinet secretary': James Carville warns of RFK Jr's vaccine plan
Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville condemned Robert F Kennedy Jr.'s vaccine strategy, cautioning that the Health and Human Services Secretary's policies could have dire outcomes for the nation, including a body count. In an appearance on The Will Cain Show on Fox News, Carville warned: 'Bobby Kennedy is going to kill more people than any Cabinet secretary, maybe in history, with his idiotic vaccine policy.' He added that vaccines are 'the greatest public health intervention in the history of the world,' blasting Kennedy for what he described as fostering distrust in vaccines. 'He has expressed vaccine skepticism at every point,' Carville continued. 'Every notable public health person thinks that vaccines are the greatest public health innovation in the history of the world.' 'What he's doing is going to kill people,' he said, underlining his point. There has been widespread criticism of Kennedy's decision to purge all 17 members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's vaccine advisory panel, citing 'historical corruption.' He then replaced them with a hand-picked panel of eight, whom he said were 'committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense,' and who wouldn't be 'ideological anti-vaxxers.' In announcing the new panel, Kennedy noted that each of them has committed to 'demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations' and that the committee would review safety and efficacy data for the current schedule. However, the moves have been concerning to experts, who noted that several members have been critical of vaccines. The fired panel members have said that their ousting signaled that scientific expertise was 'no longer of use' under Kennedy and that that decision would 'undermine public trust in the vaccine process,' at a time when vaccine hesitancy has led to the spread of measles and other diseases. The new members are set to meet on June 25 to review safety and efficacy data for the current immunization schedule.
The Independent
19-06-2025
- Health
- The Independent
‘Bobby Kennedy is going to kill more people than any Cabinet secretary': James Carville warns of RFK Jr's vaccine plan
Veteran Democratic strategist James Carville condemned Robert F Kennedy Jr.'s vaccine strategy, cautioning that the Health and Human Services Secretary's policies could have dire outcomes for the nation, including a body count. In an appearance on The Will Cain Show on Fox News, Carville warned: 'Bobby Kennedy is going to kill more people than any Cabinet secretary, maybe in history, with his idiotic vaccine policy.' He added that vaccines are 'the greatest public health intervention in the history of the world,' blasting Kennedy for what he described as fostering distrust in vaccines. 'He has expressed vaccine skepticism at every point,' Carville continued. 'Every notable public health person thinks that vaccines are the greatest public health innovation in the history of the world.' 'What he's doing is going to kill people,' he said, underlining his point. There has been widespread criticism of Kennedy's decision to purge all 17 members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 's vaccine advisory panel, citing 'historical corruption.' He then replaced them with a hand-picked panel of eight, whom he said were 'committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense,' and who wouldn't be 'ideological anti-vaxxers.' In announcing the new panel, Kennedy noted that each of them has committed to 'demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations' and that the committee would review safety and efficacy data for the current schedule. However, the moves have been concerning to experts, who noted that several members have been critical of vaccines. The fired panel members have said that their ousting signaled that scientific expertise was 'no longer of use' under Kennedy and that that decision would 'undermine public trust in the vaccine process,' at a time when vaccine hesitancy has led to the spread of measles and other diseases. The new members are set to meet on June 25 to review safety and efficacy data for the current immunization schedule.
