New vaccine advisers named to CDC panel : Shots

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has unveiled eight people he has chosen to serve on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory panel – just two days after taking the unprecedented step of removing all 17 sitting members.

On Wednesday, Kennedy listed the names and short bios of the new advisers who will join the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP, at its upcoming meeting in late June.

“All of these individuals are committed to evidence-based medicine, gold-standard science, and common sense,” Kennedy said in a post on X, “They have each committed to demanding definitive safety and efficacy data before making any new vaccine recommendations.”

The new members are Dr. Joseph R. Hibbeln, Martin Kulldorff, Retsef Levi, Dr. Robert Malone, Dr. Cody Meissner, Dr. Michael A. Ross, Dr. James Pagano and Vicky Pebsworth.

“This is a huge win for the medical freedom [m]ovement,” David Mansdoerfer, former deputy assistant secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services in the first Trump administration, wrote in a post on X, “they did everything by the book to put together this excellent slate of appointees.”

Public health advocates are wary.

“Kennedy did not pick people with strong, current expertise in vaccines,” says Dorit Reiss, a professor at UC Law, San Francisco, who studies vaccine policy. “It tells me that Kennedy is setting up a committee that would be skeptical of vaccines, and possibly willing to implement an anti-vaccine agenda.”

The panel of outside experts helps set vaccine policy and craft recommendations for the immunization schedule, which guides health providers and influences which shots are covered by health insurers.

Kennedy’s new selections have varied backgrounds, though many rose to prominence during the COVID-19 pandemic, when they criticized government policies on school closures and lockdowns, and the mRNA vaccines.

For example, Kulldorff, an epidemiologist and biostatistician, helped write the Great Barrington Declaration with Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, then a Stanford University professor who is now director of the National Institutes of Health. That open letter questioned lockdowns and other public health measures early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Kulldorff declined to comment when reached by NPR.

Malone has gained a large following for undermining the COVID-19 vaccine. A scientist who was involved in early research on mRNA technology has come under scrutiny for making unfounded and debunked claims, such as falsely asserting that vaccination increases the risk for individuals who have previously had COVID-19.

Kennedy has recently appointed several individuals with academic affiliations at reputable universities, including Meissner, a professor at Dartmouth College’s Geisel School of Medicine who previously served on ACIP and has been critical of certain vaccine recommendations. Another appointee, Vicky Pebsworth, has ties to the National Vaccine Information Center, an organization known for cautioning against vaccine dangers.

Dr. Retsef Levi, a faculty member at MIT, has also expressed doubts about the efficacy and safety of COVID mRNA vaccines, claiming they fail to deliver on their promises and result in significant harm, including fatalities among young people.

Kennedy’s decision to overhaul the ACIP has raised concerns within the public health community, with fears that the new committee may work to undermine existing vaccine policies. The upcoming ACIP meeting, scheduled for June, may face challenges in reaching a quorum due to the insufficient number of appointed members.

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