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Overall, the meeting was packed with anti-vaccine talking points and arguments.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been tracking COVID-19 variants; thus far (as of January 28, 2021) two of three discussed here are confirmed within the US. Credit: Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
A federal vaccine panel entirely hand-selected by health secretary and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gathered for its first meeting Wednesday—and immediately announced that it would re-evaluate the entire childhood vaccination schedule, as well as the one for adults.
The meeting overall was packed with anti-vaccine talking points and arguments from the new panel members, confirming public health experts' fears that the once-revered panel is now critically corrupted and that Kennedy's controversial picks will only work to fulfill his long-standing anti-vaccine agenda.
Controversial committee
An hour before the meeting began, the American Academy of Pediatrics came out swinging against the new panel, saying that the panel's work is "no longer a credible process." The organization shunned the meeting, refusing to send a liaison to the panel's meeting, which it has done for decades.
"We won't lend our name or our expertise to a system that is being politicized at the expense of children's health," AAP President Susan Kressly said in a video posted on social media.
The panel in question, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), has for more than 60 years provided rigorous public scientific review, discussion, and trusted recommendations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how vaccines should be used in the US after they've earned approval from the Food and Drug Administration. The CDC typically adopts ACIP's recommendations, and once that happens, insurance providers are required to cover the cost of the recommended shots.
The system is highly regarded globally. But, on June 9, Kennedy unilaterally and summarily fired all 17 esteemed ACIP members and, two days later, replaced them with eight new people. Some have clear anti-vaccine views, others have controversial and contrarian public health views, and several have little to no expertise in the fields relevant to vaccines.
Last night, it came to light that one of the eight new appointees—Michael Ross, an obstetrics and gynecology physician—had withdrawn from the committee during a financial holdings review that ACIP members are required to complete before beginning work on the panel.
With the remaining seven new members, ACIP's two-day meeting began this morning, despite calls for it to be scrapped. The new ACIP chair, Martin Kulldorff, introduced himself by proudly relaying that he had refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and was fired from Harvard University as well as an ACIP working group in the past.
Childhood vaccines under attack
Kulldorff's first order of business was to announce a new working group to review the safety of vaccine schedules in their entirety, rather than the safety of individual vaccines. Kulldorff was echoing an anti-vaccine talking point that children today get too many vaccines.
"In addition to studying and evaluating individual vaccines, it is important to evaluate the cumulative effect of the recommended vaccine schedule," Kulldorff said. "This includes interaction effects between different vaccines, the total number of vaccines, cumulative amounts of vaccine ingredients, and the relative timing of different vaccines."
Although children get more vaccines now than they did in the past, modern vaccines are more efficient at training the immune system against pathogens, exposing them to fewer elements of germs (antigens) to generate protective immune responses. A handy explanation from Yale's School of Public Health notes that children under age 2 in the 1980s got vaccines against just seven diseases—but those vaccines targeted over 3,000 antigens. Today, children under age 2 get vaccines against 15 diseases—but those vaccines target just 180 antigens, asking much less of the immune system.
Further, the cumulative effect of vaccines is baked into testing. When new childhood vaccines are tested in clinical trials, the children participating in those trials are still able to get every other vaccine recommended for them—withholding proven vaccines from participants would be unethical. So, any vaccine safety and efficacy trial includes children who are getting the entire vaccine schedule in addition to the vaccine being tested, providing information on cumulative effects with every new addition.
Kulldorff also said that the panel will go after specific vaccines, including the hepatitis B vaccine, which is given to newborns. The AAP immediately hit back, calling this "unscientific and dangerous." AAP highlighted that the hepatitis B vaccine is safe and lifesaving. Babies infected with hepatitis B at birth have a 90 percent chance of developing chronic disease, and 25 percent with chronic infections will end up dying from it. Thanks to vaccination, there were only 13 cases of hepatitis B in 2022.
“Very concerned”
During the full-day meeting, the seven new members listened to CDC experts review data on COVID-19 vaccines and RSV vaccines and monoclonal antibodies. In the discussions, ACIP member Retsef Levi—who is an expert in operations management—made a puzzling critique that the CDC's method for evaluating COVID-19 vaccine efficacy analysis didn't account for "alternative" explanations like "the vaccine is actually making you more vulnerable for multiple viruses."
Meanwhile, ACIP member Robert Malone—who has claimed to have invented mRNA vaccines and is proud to be called an "anti-vaxxer"—spread false misinformation that certain lots of COVID-19 vaccines were dangerous. ACIP member Vicky Pebsworth—a nurse who is on the board of an anti-vaccine organization—said she was "very concerned" that the CDC's safety monitoring systems were not capturing all of the adverse events from vaccines and said the committee should have access to "data that we probably wouldn't ordinarily have." A CDC subject matter expert noted that there are published studies showing that the CDC's safety monitoring systems capture a large majority of adverse events.
The committee ran over time and did not vote on anything today. But tomorrow, it will vote on an RSV monoclonal antibody discussed today, as well as on influenza vaccines, which will be discussed on Thursday. The agenda also includes presentations on a measles vaccine that has been the target of anti-vaccine activists.
One presentation on flu shots will come from the former president of Kennedy's anti-vaccine organization, the Children's Health Defense. The slides of that presentation have been posted and will focus on the alleged dangers of a mercury-based preservative thimerosal, which anti-vaccine advocates have long falsely linked to autism. Already, researchers and media reports have noted that the presentation supports some of its claims with a study that does not exist.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been tracking COVID-19 variants; thus far (as of January 28, 2021) two of three discussed here are confirmed within the US. Credit: Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
A federal vaccine panel entirely hand-selected by health secretary and anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. gathered for its first meeting Wednesday—and immediately announced that it would re-evaluate the entire childhood vaccination schedule, as well as the one for adults.
The meeting overall was packed with anti-vaccine talking points and arguments from the new panel members, confirming public health experts' fears that the once-revered panel is now critically corrupted and that Kennedy's controversial picks will only work to fulfill his long-standing anti-vaccine agenda.
Controversial committee
An hour before the meeting began, the American Academy of Pediatrics came out swinging against the new panel, saying that the panel's work is "no longer a credible process." The organization shunned the meeting, refusing to send a liaison to the panel's meeting, which it has done for decades.
"We won't lend our name or our expertise to a system that is being politicized at the expense of children's health," AAP President Susan Kressly said in a video posted on social media.
The panel in question, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), has for more than 60 years provided rigorous public scientific review, discussion, and trusted recommendations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on how vaccines should be used in the US after they've earned approval from the Food and Drug Administration. The CDC typically adopts ACIP's recommendations, and once that happens, insurance providers are required to cover the cost of the recommended shots.
The system is highly regarded globally. But, on June 9, Kennedy unilaterally and summarily fired all 17 esteemed ACIP members and, two days later, replaced them with eight new people. Some have clear anti-vaccine views, others have controversial and contrarian public health views, and several have little to no expertise in the fields relevant to vaccines.
Last night, it came to light that one of the eight new appointees—Michael Ross, an obstetrics and gynecology physician—had withdrawn from the committee during a financial holdings review that ACIP members are required to complete before beginning work on the panel.
With the remaining seven new members, ACIP's two-day meeting began this morning, despite calls for it to be scrapped. The new ACIP chair, Martin Kulldorff, introduced himself by proudly relaying that he had refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19 and was fired from Harvard University as well as an ACIP working group in the past.
Childhood vaccines under attack
Kulldorff's first order of business was to announce a new working group to review the safety of vaccine schedules in their entirety, rather than the safety of individual vaccines. Kulldorff was echoing an anti-vaccine talking point that children today get too many vaccines.
"In addition to studying and evaluating individual vaccines, it is important to evaluate the cumulative effect of the recommended vaccine schedule," Kulldorff said. "This includes interaction effects between different vaccines, the total number of vaccines, cumulative amounts of vaccine ingredients, and the relative timing of different vaccines."
Although children get more vaccines now than they did in the past, modern vaccines are more efficient at training the immune system against pathogens, exposing them to fewer elements of germs (antigens) to generate protective immune responses. A handy explanation from Yale's School of Public Health notes that children under age 2 in the 1980s got vaccines against just seven diseases—but those vaccines targeted over 3,000 antigens. Today, children under age 2 get vaccines against 15 diseases—but those vaccines target just 180 antigens, asking much less of the immune system.
Further, the cumulative effect of vaccines is baked into testing. When new childhood vaccines are tested in clinical trials, the children participating in those trials are still able to get every other vaccine recommended for them—withholding proven vaccines from participants would be unethical. So, any vaccine safety and efficacy trial includes children who are getting the entire vaccine schedule in addition to the vaccine being tested, providing information on cumulative effects with every new addition.
Kulldorff also said that the panel will go after specific vaccines, including the hepatitis B vaccine, which is given to newborns. The AAP immediately hit back, calling this "unscientific and dangerous." AAP highlighted that the hepatitis B vaccine is safe and lifesaving. Babies infected with hepatitis B at birth have a 90 percent chance of developing chronic disease, and 25 percent with chronic infections will end up dying from it. Thanks to vaccination, there were only 13 cases of hepatitis B in 2022.
“Very concerned”
During the full-day meeting, the seven new members listened to CDC experts review data on COVID-19 vaccines and RSV vaccines and monoclonal antibodies. In the discussions, ACIP member Retsef Levi—who is an expert in operations management—made a puzzling critique that the CDC's method for evaluating COVID-19 vaccine efficacy analysis didn't account for "alternative" explanations like "the vaccine is actually making you more vulnerable for multiple viruses."
Meanwhile, ACIP member Robert Malone—who has claimed to have invented mRNA vaccines and is proud to be called an "anti-vaxxer"—spread false misinformation that certain lots of COVID-19 vaccines were dangerous. ACIP member Vicky Pebsworth—a nurse who is on the board of an anti-vaccine organization—said she was "very concerned" that the CDC's safety monitoring systems were not capturing all of the adverse events from vaccines and said the committee should have access to "data that we probably wouldn't ordinarily have." A CDC subject matter expert noted that there are published studies showing that the CDC's safety monitoring systems capture a large majority of adverse events.
The committee ran over time and did not vote on anything today. But tomorrow, it will vote on an RSV monoclonal antibody discussed today, as well as on influenza vaccines, which will be discussed on Thursday. The agenda also includes presentations on a measles vaccine that has been the target of anti-vaccine activists.
One presentation on flu shots will come from the former president of Kennedy's anti-vaccine organization, the Children's Health Defense. The slides of that presentation have been posted and will focus on the alleged dangers of a mercury-based preservative thimerosal, which anti-vaccine advocates have long falsely linked to autism. Already, researchers and media reports have noted that the presentation supports some of its claims with a study that does not exist.
